By Paul Jones
World Cup hopeful Mark Harris is both fit and firing goals according to his Cardiff City boss Mark Hudson.
Harris scored the only goal of the game as the Bluebirds won 1-0 at Sunderland, a result which strengthened both Harris’s hope of going to Qatar with Wales, as well as Hudson’s hope of being named permanent manager.
It was a result which lifted Cardiff into 14th place in the Championship table, four points clear of the relegation zone and seven adrift of the play-off places.
It was Harris’ first goal in seven matches, timed just four days before manager Robert Page names his Wales squad for the World Cup.
And even though Harris was later withdrawn due to a thigh injury, Hudson insisted it was not a serious concern.
“Sparky (Harris) has got a dead leg, nothing else, we wanted to protect him and we got him off – we trusted the squad,” said Hudson.
“You want your strikers to score goals. He works so hard on and off the pitch. He missed one (in the) first half, but I said, it will come.
Sunderland 0-1 Cardiff City: Mark Harris wins it for Bluebirds https://t.co/ucKjUUQud9 pic.twitter.com/cAj7C8YQk3
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“He got his moment and I am delighted for him. His energy and work ethic is brilliant.
“The only thing missing in the first half was the goal. Second half we knew they were a good side, we knew we would suffer in moments.
“We had to defend together and we did that. I felt we could create with our players and we did that. The fans have come all this way, what a trek, spending money to get here, so it was nice to show our appreciation to them at the end.”
Sunderland’s Tony Mowbray said: “Aspects of our performance were poor.
“Cardiff had control in the first 20 minutes but we broke away and still had some good chances. Playing at home we have some bigger expectations to deal with.
“We also made a few changes to try to freshen it up (from the midweek win at Huddersfield). We are all disappointed. We were trying to get back-to-back wins after a good win away from home.”
Harris pounced in the area to convert from close range in the 49th minute despite claims for offside from the hosts.
That decisive goal arrived after a frantic first half in which Cardiff’s Joe Ralls missed a penalty.
However, the Bluebirds still managed to improve on a disappointing record that had seen Hudson’s side lose four of their previous five games.
Sunderland struggled to get going and although they did improve slightly after Harris’ opener they did little to even look like winning back-to-back matches for the first time this season.