Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock reacts as his side put Sunderland to the sword

Cardiff halted a run of four straight Championship defeats as Callum Paterson’s brace plus goals from Joe Ralls and Anthony Pilkington sealed a comfortable win following a dismal second half Sunderland performance.

"We were bound to be a little bit low on confidence," said Cardiff boss Warnock. "Even in the first half you could see we were a little bit apprehensive in front of goal.

"We had to work hard to get that goal, but you could see the relief when we scored at the start of the second half.

"We were then free to play and we really stepped up a gear, we played some good stuff and the energy was back.

"We looked a little bit lethargic over Christmas, so it was just nice to get back on to winning ways."

Yanic Wildschut, who joined on loan from Norwich on Friday, produced an impressive cameo performance from the bench.

Wildschut set up fellow substitute Pilkington in stoppage time and Warnock hopes to strengthen his squad further in coming weeks.

"Yanic coming in lifted everybody and you could see why I wanted to bring him in the short space of time he was on," added Warnock.

"He’s direct and my sort of player really. If we can get another couple in in the next few weeks it will give everybody a lift.

"We have been decimated and I don’t think we’ve moaned about it much, so there were a lot of plusses out there."

Cardiff are third, two points off Derby in second.