Sunderland began the Regis Le Bris era on a high as goals from Luke O’Nien and Jack Clarke handed them a 2-0 Championship victory away to Cardiff in their season opener.
O’Nien opened the scoring as he nodded the ball beyond Ethan Horvath from close range in the 18th minute after being left unmarked from a Patrick Roberts free-kick.
Cardiff created more than enough opportunities to take something from the game, with Dimitrios Goutas, Aaron Ramsey, Callum Robinson and Ollie Tanner all spurning chances, while Eliezer Mayenda should have made the scoreline more convincing for the Black Cats.
But Clarke whizzed beyond Perry Ng before curling the ball past Horvath in the 89th minute to seal a hard-fought away victory.
Cardiff boss Erol Bulut handed debuts to Calum Chambers and Chris Willock, while Alan Browne was handed his competitive bow by Le Bris following his summer switch from Preston.
Clarke and Tanner both had efforts blocked early on as the rain poured at Cardiff City Stadium.
The first real opening fell to the hosts after eight minutes as Tanner lifted the ball to Goutas, whose goal-bound header was palmed away by Anthony Patterson.
But Sunderland took the lead in the 18th minute from a set-piece after Tanner brought Clarke down.
Roberts’ curling delivery was headed back across goal by Dennis Cirkin, leaving O’Nien with the simple task of nodding the ball into the net from close range as the visitors exploited some woeful Cardiff defending.
Sunderland had not won any of their previous 10 opening league games when competing in the top two tiers of English football, but they improved after taking the lead in South Wales.
Patterson had to remain alert though as he pounced on Robinson’s volley from a Willock cross.
Willock created one final chance in the final stages of the first half, although Tanner failed to keep his header on target from six yards out as the visitors led at the break.
Chances were at a premium for both sides after the restart and the Cardiff faithful claimed in vain for a penalty after Robinson was nudged in the back by O’Nien.
Ramsey was gifted a fine chance to level proceedings on the hour mark, although the Wales captain was unable to adjust to turn Callum O’Dowda’s deflected cross into the net.
Having offered precious little in the second half, Sunderland should have doubled their lead in the 67th minute as Jobe Bellingham squared the ball to Mayenda, whose effort was brilliantly kept out by the legs of Horvath.
With time swiftly running out, Yakou Meite, summer signing Wilfried Kanga, Rubin Colwill and David Turnbull were all sent on by Bulut.
But after Ng and Kanga were unable to trouble Patterson with late efforts, Clarke put the icing on the cake at the death with a curling effort as Sunderland clinched all three points on the opening day.
