SO much, then, for Sunderland's hopes of three home wins in a week, which would have catapulted them to the top of the Nationwide League.

Confronted last night by a resolute Cardiff City side that can harbour realistic hopes of reaching the play-offs, Sunderland huffed and puffed but lacked sufficient guile to break down their stubborn opponents.

Mick McCarthy's men were for the large part restricted to pot-shots from long range, which rarely troubled Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Alexander.

Ahead of home fixtures against Walsall and Rotherham in the next seven days, Sunderland failed to score for the first time since the second League game of the season.

The Black Cats leapfrogged West Ham to move up to fourth in the Division One table, but that will be of little solace to McCarthy today.

The Sunderland manager has counselled caution all season, refusing to be carried away by the encouraging run of performances and results which have lifted the gloom hanging over Wearside.

Perhaps last night's events were no great surprise, with Sunderland somewhat fortunate to win their two previous matches - against Ipswich Town and Sheffield United.

Cardiff seemed content to take a point from their 300-mile trip north, but while the visitors were anaemic going forward Sunderland struggled to create a single clear-cut chance.

It might be a worrying portent for Sunderland, who had won their last four home League games before yesterday's blip.

Certainly, lowly Walsall and Rotherham will take heart from the way the Black Cats were devoid of ideas as Cardiff defended in numbers.

Mart Poom was seldom called into action, but the nearest Sunderland came to scoring was when the otherwise impressive Colin Healy scooped a shot over from the edge of the box with time running out.

Sunderland's previous home match, against Ipswich, was full of flair and finesse; last night, graft rather than craft held sway.

It was a war of attrition, with Gary Breen directing operations to good effect in the Sunderland defence while Marcus Stewart and Kevin Kyle were subdued against Cardiff's three centre-backs.

When George McCartney made an early mistake, Breen covered for his captain with a timely intervention to foil Robert Earnshaw in the Sunderland penalty area.

The Black Cats were also becalmed going forward, however, with Jeff Whitley's 30-yard shot the highlight of a turgid first half.

Cardiff's former Middlesbrough defender Tony Vidmar was as assured as Breen was at the other end, with Kyle's wayward shot summing up Sunderland's early exertions.

The introduction of Tommy Smith for the ineffectual Tommy Butler at half-time injected some urgency into Sunderland's forays forward as Cardiff, promoted in May via the play-offs, began to look ruffled.

Stewart squandered a headed chance from 15 yards before Vidmar stepped in to deny the former Ipswich striker a clear run on goal after good work from Kyle.

As Sunderland began to turn up the heat on a chilly autumnal evening, Breen sent a header from John Oster's teasing cross comfortably over the bar.

Another promising Sunderland attack was halted by a cynical challenge from Richard Langley, who was booked for bundling Smith off the ball.

Driven on by Healy and Whitley in the midfield engine room, Sunderland continued to probe for an opening.

But it was an increasingly infuriating evening for McCarthy's men, with an incident in the 67th minute summing up their fortunes.

Kyle was fouled 20 yards from the Cardiff goal and Stewart, seeing Oster well placed, took the free-kick quickly.

But Stewart's pass was hopelessly misplaced, and to groans from the vast majority of the 26,835 crowd Cardiff easily cleared.

Result: Sunderland 0, Cardiff City 0.

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