Mike Dodds explains what changed to end winless run and his message to Sunderland players

Mike Dodds praised his players for a 'professional' performance as they ended a seven-game winless run at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Sunderland looked back to their best in a 2-0 win, and Dodds felt the psychological impact of taking an early lead helped his young side discover their confidence. Cardiff felt aggrieved with the decision to award a penalty for a foul on Jobe Bellingham, which Adil Aouchiche converted emphatically.

From there, the Black Cats were the dominant side of the game and could have scored more. While pleased for the squad and for the fans, the interim head coach added that his team had to back it up against Blackburn Rovers at the Stadium of Light on Monday afternoon.

"I think it was a real professional performance," Dodds said.

"I've tried to stay really balanced in this seat and look at the performance and what the group are trying to do. Fortunately for us today, things went our way. I'm more happy for the group because we've got a really good group, and more happy for the fans because the result makes everything feel a little bit lighter.

"I thought it was a really professional performance in and out of possession. I thought once we scored the goal we relaxed a lot more than what we've seen in previous weeks, I saw a really anxious team against QPR. As soon as we scored I felt we started to find our rhythm and I saw a lot of what we've been working on. I think that was a result of a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

"I really do think it was just the confidence after the first goal. They're young players and my responsibility is to keep supporting with them and working with them and psychologically, that first goal was a huge factor. Once we got it, I thought we were excellent, very professional. We cut through them and I think they're a really-well coached team, well organised out of possession and so it's no mean feat to come here and have 18 shots on goal. I think that says how good we were with the ball.

"I've just spoken to the group there and there were two messages really," he added. It's obviously not been an easy time in terms of results but they've completely bought into the processes and what we're trying to do. So I thanked them for that but reiterated how important it is moving forward.

"The second bit was being a little bit tough with them in terms of making sure we get a positive result on Monday, because the reality is that if the result isn't positive then everyone will have forgotten about this. We have to make sure that we take this positivity and giving everyone that feeling of back-to-back. So I've put a little bit of pressure on them to make sure we hit the same standard and levels on Monday."