'Have to say': Cardiff City boss pays Sunderland compliment after late winner

Cardiff City Erol Bulut hailed his players for their defensive resilience after they ended Sunderland's winning run at the Stadium of Light.

Bulut praised Sunderland as one of the best teams in the league in possession, and said his side had to fight to secure the three points.

The Black Cats created the better chances in the game but were beaten in the 87th minute when Mark McGuinness converted a corner.

"First I have to say congrats to Sunderland, they are a really, really good team," Bulut said.

"They are one of the best teams on the ball in the division, they have a lot of players with a good future here I think.

"It wasn't easy to get this win and sometimes you have to fight when you have less chances to win the game, and today was that.

"We showed great fight, of course with the ball we could have done more. But the few things we did with the ball was good and in the end we had a chance where it was easier to score then put it over the bar, but this is football. I'm very glad that we could get the three points in a difficult stadium.

"I'm very pleased with our defending because in our first games, we were leading against Leeds and Ipswich and we lost the game. The concentration against the ball was not how I want it but in the last weeks it has been much, much better."

Cardiff's win lifted them to seventh in the table, level on points with Sunderland.