Sunderland succumbed to a Cardiff smash and grab on Sunday afternoon, as they were defeated 1-0 by the Bluebirds in the most frustrating fashion possible.
The Black Cats hosted Cardiff on the back of our third win in a row at Blackburn four days prior as we looked to make it four wins on the spin for the first time since promotion to the second tier. Cardiff meanwhile were hot on their trail, just three points behind as they sought after breaking into the top six.
It was a massively frustrating afternoon for Sunderland as they were undone by a headed Mark McGuinness goal from a corner late on. This came after the home side had dominated for almost all of the game, something they couldn't use to their advantage even though they came agonisingly close on a few occasions.
Just after the 20th minute Sunderland came close to finding the opener. A pass by Ba found Alex Pritchard, with his shot deflected agonisingly wide of the left hand post, the following corner resulted in Dan Neil firing over from outside the box.
Jack Clarke's brilliance when it comes to dribbling was showcased finely, he practically floated past two defenders, unfortunately Jak Alnwick saved his shot.
At halftime the score was Sunderland 0-0 Cardiff City.
The home side then tested Alnwick again, with a Pritchard shot driven low towards the left hand post just about palmed away. Shortly after, Niall Huggins almost gave Sunderland the lead when his shot flew narrowly past the right hand post. The game continued to ramp up in terms of energy and Iké Ugbo really should have given the visitors the lead when he somehow fired a corner wide at close range.
Just seconds after coming off the bench Adil Aouchiche managed to give Alnwick some problems, his cross being pushed away. Another substitute, this time Luis Hemir almost finally had his first goal for the Black Cats, a Trai Hume cross bounced around a bit too awkwardly for the youngster to make proper contact.
It somehow stayed out of the Cardiff net still. Jack Clarke showed his quality again by getting the ball to the middle of the box, one shot by Patrick Roberts (completing a trio of 'almosts' by the substitutes) was saved by the legs of Alnwick and then a follow up was blocked off the line.
Kion Etete appeared to turn into prime Lionel Messi for just a few seconds, he danced around our defence before a tame shot was collected by Anthony Patterson. After a good set of passes between Roberts and Aouchiche, the latter had a shot caught on the right side of the goal.
Largely against the run of play, Cardiff led late on from a corner. Mark McGuinness nodded home from close range. Patterson prevented the away side from doubling their lead in stoppage time when he saved a Ryan Wintle shot that came from a counter attack.
Full time: Sunderland 0-1 Cardiff City
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, O'Nien (C), Ballard, Huggins, Neil, Pritchard, Ba, Bellingham, Clarke, Burstow
Subs: Bishop, Aouchiche, Hemir, Seelt, Triantis, Rigg, Roberts, Taylor, Rusyn
Cardiff: Alnwick, Ng, Goutas, McGuinness, Collins, Wintle, Siopis, Ralls (C), Meite, Grant, Ugbo
Subs: Rúnarsson, Panzo, Romeo, Adams, Rinomhota, Tanner, R Colwill, Etete, Robins.
