'Delighted with...': Michael Beale delivers this verdict as Sunderland get back to winning ways at Hull City

Michael Beale said he was delighted with the mentality of his Sunderland side after they battled their way to a valuable win and clean sheet against Hull City on Boxing Day.

Jack Clarke's late winner lifted Sunderland briefly back into the top six, with Beale delighted with the response to the Coventry City defeat in a contest against a top-six rival.

"It's clear that we've not had time to work and certainly on Saturday, it was so demoralising for us, we've not had much time in between," he said.

"I've got a lot of respect for Liam and the way his team plays, so I knew it was going to be a tough game. I also knew that we hadn't won away from home for quite a long time in the league, so there were a lot of things I wanted to see from the team today and I thought it was a big response. I thought we should have won by more, I know there were scrambles late on but you expect that as the away team - particularly as they had an extra day of recovery playing on Friday night.

"Some of our interplay was really good, it was just about whether we were going to execute in the final third and that's probably the story of the season under three coaches. It was a fantastic goal from Jack, and I'm absolutely delighted with the mentality of the group.

"A lot of their play was in their back three/four, in their half. Their rotations are good and we had to respect that a little bit, it was a bit more like the Leeds and West Brom games in terms of us having to be solid in our shape, but we took it off them in interesting areas. As the away team, with the opportunities we created... I think we can be a bit fussy in the final third, trying to score the perfect goal. We want an extra pass when we can got the shot off, we play good football but we can more effective.

"I'm delighted, there were big performances through the time. Jenson coming in at right back was fantastic, and our three midfielders... I don't want to take about age and we won't moving forward because if they're good enough, they're old enough. But that's three young midfielders and they were excellent. They've got good players, we're away from home off the back of a big defeat... I'm delighted with the mentality and character. It's a big positive for me moving forward."

Sunderland fear that Bradley Dack will be absent for their upcoming fixtures after he picked up a hamstring injury in the win. Niall Huggins is also set for a long-term absence, though the full prognosis is not yet clear.

"With Niall, it's tough to get the scans etc at this time of year so we'll hopefully have news in the next couple of days," Beale said. "Bradley is his hamstring, we'll have to go through the scan process. I feel for him because he's missed a lot of football, but that's really disappointing."