Frustrated Lamouchi urges players to fight to the end of the season after Cardiff lose to Sunderland

Bluebirds boss Sabri Lamouchi has warned his players they need to fight until the very last game to avoid relegation from the Championship following the defeat to play-off chasing Sunderland.

Cardiff’s second successive home defeat leaves them outside the relegation zone only on goal difference.

And Lamouchi showed how disappointed he was in his side’s performance, coming off the back of a big win in Blackpool on Good Friday, by making a double change after only 36 minutes. He then made a third at the break and brought on a fourth sub on the hour mark.

Dennis Cirkin’s second half goal earned three points for the Black Cats and moved them to within four points of sixth place.

“When you are losing you are always disappointed, but I’m more disappointed about the first half. The second was a little bit better,” said Lamouchi.

“We can’t concede a goal in the second half like that. We cannot start the game in this way – there was a bad attitude in the first half and it was a bad performance.

“We made some changes and probably we could have made some more.”

Cirkin struck in the 61st minute as he tapped in a rebound off the post following an Alex Pritchard free-kick that pierced a flimsy defensive wall.

Stupid foul

“We cannot concede a goal in this way, with the ball going through men in the wall after giving away a stupid foul,” said an angry Lamouchi.

“We were probably a little bit better in the second half, good enough to create two or three chances to score, but we didn’t score. We didn’t deserve more than we got.

“When I first arrived at the club I told the players we will need to fight until the last game, so we must be ready for that.

“If you aren’t consistent in the Championship, you deserve to be where you are and you will be there for a lot of reasons. It is time to be positive, honest and try to give your best, and we didn’t give our best in the first half today.”