Chopra savours Sunderland brace

Chopra celebrates his second goal in front of glum Sunderland fans

Cardiff striker Michael Chopra said his two goals against Sunderland on Tuesday night gave him immense satisfaction.

"Being a Geordie, it meant a lot to me to come to Sunderland and score twice," said Chopra after taking his tally to 10 goals in 14 games.

"We knew it was going to be tough against Sunderland. They've got a lot of big players and they can pass it well and hurt teams.

"But we stood up to them, played well and came away with the three points."

Even before Tuesday's double, Chopra had very fond memories of the Stadium of Light.

It was the venue for the 22-year-old's first league goal for Newcastle as he scored 15 seconds after coming off the bench in last April's 4-1 Premiership victory.

Full credit to the lads, I scored two goals, but they deserve a lot of applause because they stood up to be counted Michael Chopra

And the game was only 208 seconds old on Tuesday when Chopra returned to haunt the Sunderland fans on Halloween night as he converted Paul Parry's right-wing cross.

Sunderland quickly responded to equalise through a Chris Brown header, but Chopra restored Cardiff's lead before half-time from another Parry cross.

The brace, taken with Premiership-style composure, ensured Chopra would claim all the headlines.

And despite taking great personal pleasure in returning to the north-east of England to get one over his childhood rivals, Chopra said every Cardiff player had contributed to the victory.

"Towards the end of the game, Sunderland were pushing players forward and putting balls in the box," said Chopra.

"But full credit to the lads, I scored two goals, but they deserve a lot of applause because they stood up to be counted.

"The manager spoke to us before the game and told us to have a look around the place. This is a Premiership club - this is what we need to achieve.

"He told us to go out and do it. We're working hard trying to get to the standard we want.

"We've got to maintain our progress and keep going and work hard."