REGIS Le Bris' half-time problem solving paved the way for Sunderland to coast to their fourth successive Championship win.

The Black Cats led 1-0 at half-time at Portsmouth after a Zak Swanson own-goal but Le Bris was slightly concerned by one or two aspects in the opening period.

But after some half-time tweaks, the Black Cats roared out of the blocks after the restart with goals from Alan Browne and Romaine Mundle securing the points.

Sunderland were denied a fourth straight clean sheet after Luke O'Nien's 90th minute own-goal but it was the win that mattered to the head coach.

"We are happy for sure," he said.

"It was a tough game and I think the game-plan was good but not always easy to apply because we need to solve the problem between short passes and direct play with strong players who have the ability to make the first and second contact.

"The first half wasn't perfect, we solved one or two problems at half-time and then in the first part of the second half we had the opportunity to recover many balls inside and we had the opportunity to counter attack and score."

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Le Bris added: "I don't know if we are a team that wants to control the game and create chances and unbalance the opponent's defence. This part of our game isn't our best, I'm not sure we want to be this kind of team who have 20 or 30 passes.

"During the first half it wasn't so clear. In a way the solution is in the defence. If we can attract the opponent, recover the ball and then fast counter attack it's the best way to score a goal."

Sunderland were dealt a major blow this week when Aji Alese picked up an ankle injury in training and the club confirmed before the game the defender will be out until November.

Le Bris said: "The expectation is around 10 weeks, I think."