Regis Le Bris delivers refreshingly honest verdict on Sunderland's win over Cardiff City

Regis Le Bris admitted Sunderland’s opening-day clash didn’t quite go to plan but praised his side for the spirit they showed in grinding out a crucial win.

Cardiff City dominated possession and territory for large parts of the game, but Luke O’Nien scored from a set piece to give his side an early lead and Jack Clarke made the points safe late on with an excellent finish.

Le Bris admitted he wanted his side to be more dominant but says there is much to be encouraged by.

"It's satisfying for us to win our first match,” he said.

“It wasn't easy to start away from home, the game was tough. We started well I think and when we scored this goal, the goal changed because Cardiff took more risks and it wasn't easy for us to recover the ball and press high. Even in our mid press, it was difficult. So we recover the ball in our final third and we're very far from the opposition goal. We had some good sequences but the whole game, we weren't able to dominate. The satisfaction is in the team spirit because we kept a consistency, the organisation. We tried to solve the problems and because we have the ability to score with our individual quality, at the end we won this game.

"It wasn't really the plan for them to have that much possession but I'm happy because we won and that was our main goal,” he added.

“Sometimes, the scenario, the balance of the game is not what you expect and you have to deal with it. We played two very different games, against Marseille it was a very rational, positional game. This was completely different, a lot more random and we struggled to find our references. But the players talked a lot, found solutions. So for me, the main pillar of a successful season is obviously the game but also the team spirit. Today we had the spirit and we kept it 'til the end, and I think our fans were very important in giving us the extra energy we needed. At the end, the three points is most important for us.”

Sunderland are back in action in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.