Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray outlines where his team must improve after disappointing defeat

The Black Cats boss admits his team are struggling to produce a consistent 90-minute display after disappointing in the 1-0 defeat to Cardiff City.

Sunderland were outplayed for much of the first half and while they did improve in the latter stages, the visitors were ultimately deserving of their win.

Mowbray had made four changes to his starting XI, fearing that some of his more experienced players were at risk of fatigue-induced injury. The inexperience in his side ultimately showed: "We're striving for consistency I think.

"We've sat here a lot and talked about either playing really well in the first half, or being much better in the second to get a result.

"There's an issue with our level of consistency within games. We have to keep working to find the answers to that.

"Sometimes you have to just win your duels, your tackles and your headers and I think our fans enjoy that every bit as much as a great goal or a great passing move. We have to remember to bring both of those to every game.

"It is tough to win back-to-back games at this level and I do think we have a team that is still coming together, it was playing in a different league last year.

"We are going to do it this season, I'm sure we are, we are striving.

"There's two teams out there as well, and you can't swamp every team, they are allowed to play well as well sometimes. I have to get the balance between giving the lads a knock sometimes when it's not good enough, and keeping the belief, that the good things they are doing will see us fine if they keep doing that.

"It was a bit of a game of two halves for us, and I've said that too often. We have to work to address that."

Mowbray is hopeful that he will be able to call on a number of key players returning from injury after the World Cup break, but his options for Birmingham next week are depleted further after Luke O'Nien picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against the Bluebirds.