Sunderland 1-2 Cardiff

Chopra showed his class with two great finishes

Michael Chopra got Championship leaders Cardiff back to winning ways with a double at the Stadium of Light.

The former Newcastle striker opened the scoring on four minutes when he slotted home Paul Parry's right-wing cross.

Sunderland responded within six minutes as Tobias Hysen delivered a great cross for Chris Brown to head home.

But Chopra put the Bluebirds ahead again before half-time with a virtually carbon copy of his first and Cardiff held on despite late home pressure.

---

Sunderland boss Roy Keane:

"We were very, very poor. We lost it everywhere - the goal we gave away, our passing, our tackling, our movement; everything really was poor.

"I think I was the nearest man to Chopra when he scored both of his goals. I've said a few things to the players - they need to get a hold of each other sometimes.

"We've lost four or five games now since I've been in charge, and four or five before I came here.

"That's 10 defeats and we're still only in October - that's not acceptable. Some teams go through a whole season only losing one or two games, so we've got to add that mentality to our game.

"I expect a reaction tomorrow and we'll kick on for Saturday."

Cardiff boss Dave Jones:

"We went into the match off the back of a game that we could have won and, because we didn't, people thought that the bubble had burst.

"But the belief is there, the belief has always been there. The first-half was of high quality.

"We got ourselves in front and it was all about keeping the lead in the second half. We knew that they would come at us and try and bombard us, but it was all about staying strong.

"To come here and get a result, after the way Sunderland have been playing of late, just goes to show how determined all the boys were.

"This was a big, big three points so we'll go home very happy."

---

Sunderland: Ward, Neill Collins (Kavanagh 69), Varga, Danny Collins, Nyatanga, Lawrence (Leadbitter 69), Whitehead, Yorke, Hysen, Murphy, Brown (Stephen Elliott 82).
Subs Not Used: Alnwick, Caldwell.

Goals: Brown 10.

Cardiff: Alexander, McNaughton (Kamara 86), Purse, Loovens, Chambers, Ledley, Scimeca, McPhail, Parry, Chopra, Thompson (Campbell 46).
Subs Not Used: Johnson, Howard, Flood.

Booked: Chambers, Chopra.

Goals: Chopra 4, 37.

Att: 26,528

Ref: C Boyeson (E Yorkshire).