Chris Coleman rued his side’s slow start to the second 45 as 10-man Sunderland fell to defeat at Cardiff City.
After a hardworking opening 45-minute display in south wales, the course of the Black Cats’ afternoon changed in the blink of an eye as Callum Paterson put the Bluebirds in front.
Dider Ndong was then dismissed for a foul on Junior Hoilett before Joe Ralls doubled the hosts’ advantage with just 54 minutes played.
Paterson netted his second of the afternoon shortly after and then Anthony Pilkington rounded off the scoring deep into stoppage time.
Speaking post-match, Coleman delivered his verdict from the Cardiff City Stadium.
“We were defending a corner after 30 seconds after they had already had a shot on goal,” he said.
“From the resulting corner we gift them a goal which isn’t what it’s about.
“We can’t do that. For 45 minutes we came here, it was going to be tough. Cardiff go man for man and it wasn’t easy in the first 45.
“But we gave them a goal and psychologically it killed us. We are bottom of the league and after 30 seconds of the restart we are 1-0 down. We can’t accept that.
He continued: “Forget the sending off – sometimes they are given and sometimes they aren’t. We have given the referee the chance to make a decision.
“We have got to be right at it from the start and we weren’t clearly. It was a defensive error that cost us the goal at the most vital time of the game.
“That led to the downfall in the second half.