SUNDERLAND ......................................................... 1 Home horror show moves Cats into the drop zone

SUNDERLAND’S misery continued as they suffered a fourth successive home defeat to slip into the Championship relegation zone as high-flying Cardiff City moved up to second place in the table.

The Wearsiders have gone seven games without a win and picked up just two points along the way, and now find themselves a point behind fourth-bottom Barnsley.

Craig Bryson took advantage of slack defending to put the Bluebirds in front inside the first 10 minutes, and though Lynden Gooch levelled from the penalty spot early in the second half, a foul by Lamine Kone on Sean Morrison allowed Joe Ralls to score the winner from the spot at the other end inside the final 20 minutes.

After naming a much-changed line-up at Everton in the cup in midweek, Simon Grayson reverted to a side similar to the one that began at Hull City last weekend but was still forced into a couple of alterations to that team.

Callum McManaman missed out with a knock and Jonny Williams was ill, which meant Ty Browning and Gooch both started.

Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock made three changes to the side that began last weekend’s 1-1 home draw against Sheffield Wednesday.

Liam Feeney, Jazz Richards, and Bruno Ecuele Manga came into the side in place of Lee Peltier, Sol Bamba, and Junior Hoilett.

Sunderland’s abysmal home form is a theme that precedes every game at the Stadium of Light, and once again the Black Cats came a cropper early in the game.

A bright opening was brought to an abrupt end when Cardiff scored Lamine Kone wins an aerial battle in the first half with their first attack.

Route One football paid off for the Bluebirds with goalkeeper Neil Etheridge’s long goalkick flicked-on by Kenneth Zohore in the righthand channel and the ball dropped over Kone for Bryson to steer his shot beyond Robbin Ruiter into the left-hand side of the net.

It was the worst possible start for the Black Cats, with the atmosphere in the ground immediately taking a nosedive.

And it could have got much worse five minutes later when Aron Gunnarsson hit a low shot from just outside the box, but this time Ruiter got down to his left to push the ball away.

Bryson saw a fierce shot blocked by the Sunderland defence on the quarter-hour and at that stage Cardiff threatened to run away with the game.

But Grayson made a tactical switch and abandoned his five-at-theback system to play a back four, Cardiff celebrate after Bryson puts with Adam Matthews brought across to keep tabs on Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, which was a task that had been beyond Bryan Oviedo. Sunderland began to improve from that moment on and Oviedo, now playing on the left wing, brought a save out of Etheridge midway through the half. Didier Ndong sent a shot over the top on the half-hour. And as Sunderland