Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris praised his crew for overcoming the bodily problem of Portsmouth as Sunday’s 1-0 victory took them nearer to the Championship summit.
Wilson Isidor struck his eighth purpose of the season seven minutes in, beating the offside entice from Eliezer Mayenda’s go earlier than ending coolly.
Sunderland missed a number of probabilities to increase their lead in freezing situations on the Stadium of Gentle, with Mayenda losing the clearest of them simply earlier than half-time.
Their process was made simpler when Portsmouth captain Marlon Pack was despatched off for a late foul on Isidor, and Portsmouth solely tallied six pictures (one heading in the right direction) totalling 0.36 anticipated objectives (xG) all through the competition.
Sunderland, in the meantime, tried 24 pictures value 1.98 xG and had greater than double Portsmouth’s quantity of touches inside the realm, recording 39 to the guests’ 14.
A slick transfer to open the scoring! #EFL | @SunderlandAFC pic.twitter.com/8JGyaRlzd6
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The victory took Sunderland to inside three factors of Championship leaders Leeds United and two behind second-placed Burnley and third-placed Sheffield United.
“It was vital to win as a result of it’s robust to get outcomes on this league, particularly throughout a demanding festive interval like this, with 5 video games in 15 days,” Le Bris instructed BBC Sport after the sport.
“We struggled to take care of their direct model of play within the first half and didn’t win sufficient first contacts, however the second half was higher.
“We created many probabilities and managed 24 pictures on purpose. We scored early, however sadly, the second purpose didn’t come, which left us underneath stress till the tip.
“This league is hard, however we’ve been constant, and that’s the important thing message immediately.”
