Goncalo Ramos scored twice as Paris St Germain shrugged off last week’s Ligue 1 loss to Nice by strolling to a 4-0 win over bitter rivals Marseille at the Parc des Princes.

The 22-year-old Portugal striker replaced the injured Kylian Mbappe just past the half-hour mark and added his brace to earlier strikes from Achraf Hakimi and Kolo Muani as the reigning champions eased to victory in Le Classique.

The win will allay concerns over PSG’s sluggish start to the domestic season while it heaps more frustration on the visitors who have now gone three Ligue 1 games without a win.

PSG were on top from the opening moments, pinning Marseille back and taking just eight minutes to open their account when Hakimi curled a brilliant free-kick past Pau Lopez after Mbappe was fouled on the edge of the box.

Mbappe was almost played in by Warren Zaire-Emery before Marseille missed a rare chance to equalise when Vitinha headed a cross against the top of the bar.

Mbappe, struggling from the effects of an early challenge, was replaced by Ramos after 32 minutes, and five minutes later Muani made it two by prodding home the rebound after Hakimi’s initial low shot came back off the post.

Two minutes into the second half Ramos grabbed his first goal since his summer move from Benfica when he met a cross from Ousmane Dembele with a brilliant header past Lopez.

It was relentless stuff from PSG with Hakimi firing just over the bar then sending another free-kick just wide as Marseille barely got a look-in.

Chancel Mbemba summoned a pair of speculative efforts but it was clearly all in vain for the visitors, and their pain increased in the dying minutes as PSG scored a deserved fourth.

A Marseille free-kick was swiftly cleared and Muani roved into the visitors’ half where he found Ramos who delivered a well-judged shot over Lopez to complete a one-sided win.

Marcus Smith finished England’s World Cup rout of Chile in the same back line as Owen Farrell and George Ford – six years after rushing his A-level maths exam to train with his heroes.

England experimented by deploying all three of their fly-halves for the final half-hour of Saturday’s 71-0 victory in Lille that places them on the brink of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Smith was operating in his new role of full-back while Ford stepped off the bench to form a creative axis with Farrell designed to run spirited but outclassed Chile off their feet.

For Smith it was a special moment after his first encounter with the duo came in May 2017 when he took part in England’s camp in his native Brighton, where he was studying as an 18-year-old.

“Those two have been really influential ever since I was invited to train with England when I was very young,” he said.

“I was very lucky that England went to Brighton College – I went to Brighton College – and I had to beg my teachers because when I heard that opportunity was available because I was desperate to take it.

“I rushed my maths exams so I could get on the field. I had my rugby socks on and I was ready to go. I got a B, I think. I’ll take that – maybe I rushed it too much!

“To be able to learn from the best two fly-halves in England was special for me. They’ve been really helpful to me.

“It was class to play with Owen and George against Chile. To have two guys who are unbelievably skilful inside, able to see space, and for me to have slightly more space in the outside channels was a pleasure.

“They managed to find me a few times and I really enjoyed running in the wider channels. To all be out there at the same time was an honour. It was a day I’ll never forget.”

Smith’s conversion from fly-half to full-back now spans four cameos as a replacement and 80 minutes against Chile and while a success to date, tougher assignments await in the form of Samoa and the quarter-finals.

The Harlequins magician insists he is happy to contribute in whatever role gets him on the field.

“It was class. I really enjoyed it. Playing 10, 15, where – I thoroughly enjoy being on the field,” Smith said.

“It doesn’t last forever so whenever I get the opportunity I’m going to try to make the most of it.”

Sharing star billing with Smith at Stade Pierre-Mauroy was Henry Arundell, the 20-year-old wing who equalled the England record of five tries scored in one match.

Arundell will join Racing 92 after the World Cup following the financial collapse of London Irish but despite playing for an overseas club he is expected to be available for selection in the Six Nations under the exceptional circumstances rule.

“Henry is a great finisher and he certainly makes things happen. That pace he has… I see the hard work he does on the training field – he’s a man who is determined to get better,” head coach Steve Borthwick said.

England now have their bye week and will not resume training until Thursday with players able to leave their camp in Le Touquet and meet family, although none will be returning home.

While allowed to depart France under tournament regulations, players must be available for drug testing and media commitments, thereby restricting their movement.

Some of Borthwick’s management team will return home briefly over the coming days, however.

“The coaches have the next few days off because the whole management team has worked alongside all the players very, very hard to this point. It’s important now they all have a few days break,” Borthwick said.

Dominant Wales booked a place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals after crushing Australia 40-6 and leaving Eddie Jones’ team close to pool-stage elimination.

A third successive Pool C victory sent Wales into the last-eight for a fourth successive World Cup under head coach Warren Gatland.

They are guaranteed to top the group if they defeat Georgia next month, setting up a likely quarter-final clash against Argentina in Marseille.

Wales overcame the early loss of injured fly-half Dan Biggar to boss Australia in every key department and coast home through tries from scrum-half Gareth Davies, centre Nick Tompkins and captain Jac Morgan, while Biggar, who kicked an early conversion, saw his replacement Gareth Anscombe boot 23 points.

It was Wales’ record win against Australia, overtaking a 25-point margin in 1975, and former England boss Jones will be left to face the music as the Wallabies lurch towards World Cup oblivion.

The Wallabies boss said on Friday he had no doubt Australia would win the game, yet Wales rammed those words down his throat, with two Ben Donaldson penalties Australia’s only scoring acts.

It was an outstanding display by Gatland’s team as they delivered the goods through a performance that bristled with confidence, power and accuracy.

Gatland named the team that accounted for Fiji in their World Cup opener, with lock Adam Beard winning his 50th cap in a line-up skippered by flanker Morgan.

Australia showed three changes from the side beaten by Fiji last weekend as full-back Andrew Kellaway, scrum-half Tate McDermott and flanker Robert Leota were all handed starts.

Wales blasted out of the blocks and were ahead after just three minutes when Morgan broke through in midfield and Davies ran a brilliant supporting line before gathering the pass and diving over.

Biggar converted, with Wales asking immediate questions of Australia’s confidence.

The Wallabies then responded through a concerted spell of pressure inside Wales’ 22, before Biggar took a blow and required treatment and Donaldson kicked a short-range penalty that made it 7-3.

Biggar could not shake off what appeared to be a shoulder problem, being forced to leave the pitch after just 12 minutes and replaced by Anscombe.

A second Donaldson penalty cut the gap to a point as the Wallabies fought for their World Cup lives.

Anscombe hit the post with a 19th-minute penalty, but he made no mistake off the tee just two minutes later as Wales moved 10-6 ahead.

It was a fast and furious contest, and Wales had to defend resiliently at times as Australia utilised powerful back-row runners Leota and Rob Valetini.

Anscombe’s second successful penalty 12 minutes before half-time opened up a seven-point gap, and then he completed a hat-trick before Wales attacked from halfway and almost breached Australia’s defence through wing Louis Rees-Zammit.

Wales took a 10-point lead into the interval, and they were good value as the prize of a quarter-final place drew closer.

Wales extended their advantage just two minutes into the second period when Australia conceded a scrum penalty and Anscombe duly obliged with three points.

The Wallabies’ lineout also started to go astray, and Wales were turning the screw through a dominant pack superbly marshalled by Morgan and lock Will Rowlands.

And they claimed a second try after 48 minutes when Anscombe’s pinpoint chip over the top of Australia’s defensive line led to Tompkins touching down, with Anscombe converting to leave the Wallabies 26-6 adrift.

Two more Anscombe penalties took Wales past 30 points, and they were now almost toying with their hapless opponents.

Australia had no answer in the set-piece area, with Jones being loudly booed each time he appeared on the stadium’s giant screens.

Gatland was able to ring the changes with his team in so much control, and Anscombe dropped a goal 10 minutes from time that rubbed salt into gaping Australian wounds.

Wales fans were jubilant, and Morgan scored try number three from a driven lineout as Gatland’s men cruised to a remarkable landslide triumph.

Celtic and Rangers emerged with contrasting emotions despite both recording wins in week six of the cinch Premiership.

There were also wins for St Mirren, Hibernian and Aberdeen while Dundee and Kilmarnock shared the spoils at Dens Park.

Here are five things we learned from the weekend’s action.

Celtic get ‘monumental’ win

Brendan Rodgers called Celtic’s 3-0 victory at Livingston “monumental” after the champions built on their one-goal lead despite having Joe Hart sent off.

Celtic again showed a good response to adversity four days after picking up two red cards in a 2-0 defeat by Feyenoord.

Rodgers said: “Livingston is a notoriously hard place to come anyway, never mind with 10 men, so to play with that mentality was very good.”

Dons kick-start their season

Aberdeen had been experiencing their worst start to a campaign for almost a quarter of a century but they picked up their first win of the campaign at the sixth time of asking, and did so in emphatic fashion.

A 4-0 win over Ross County set the Dons up for a Viaplay Cup quarter-final in Dingwall on Wednesday.

The Saints go marching on

St Mirren are still only two points off the top after beating Hearts 1-0 in Paisley.

And it could have been more after they had three goals disallowed, two of them in controversial fashion.

Manager Stephen Robinson said: “I’ll let the fans enjoy it, let them dream and I’ll keep within the realism.”

Montgomery shows his intent

New Hibernian head coach Nick Montgomery made history in his first match at Easter Road by making Rory Whittaker the club’s youngest player at only 16 years and 44 days.

Whittaker was a ball boy for Hibs earlier in the season but he came off the bench in a 2-0 win over St Johnstone that continued Montgomery’s unbeaten start to life in Scotland since his move from Central Coast Mariners.

Rangers take a step back

That was the analysis of manager Michael Beale despite a third win and clean sheet in eight days.

Beale was unimpressed by his side’s performance in a 1-0 win over Motherwell, days after being left delighted by the same scoreline against Real Betis.

The goal came courtesy of a deflection off Cyriel Dessers and Motherwell had a number of chances to maintain their seven-month unbeaten Premiership run on the road.

Beale admitted: “We got away with one.”

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend insisted the standard of officiating at the World Cup needs to improve after being left perplexed by the decision not to issue a red card to Tonga’s Afusipa Taumoepeau for a high tackle that forced his captain Jamie Ritchie off and ruled him out of the next match against Romania.

The Scots scored seven tries as they defeated the Pacific islanders 45-17 in Nice on Sunday to get the bonus-point win they needed to kick-start their tournament and keep alive their hopes of progressing to the knockout phase.

However, Townsend was astonished that Taumoepeau did not have his yellow card upgraded to a red for the 33rd-minute flashpoint that left his skipper with a head injury and unable to take part in full contact training until the eve of what is shaping up to be a critical showdown with Ireland in Paris a week on Saturday.

The head coach’s anger was heightened by the fact there was a similar scenario in Scotland’s first game when South Africa’s Jesse Kriel dodged a red card despite appearing to make head-on-head contact with Jack Dempsey.

“It’s very disappointing that our captain, one of our key players, was hit in the head and had to be removed from the game,” said Townsend. “It’s twice now that’s happened. Against South Africa, Jack was hit in the head. Nothing happened that day, and today it was only a yellow card.

“I just don’t understand what the TMO bunker and the three officials who are there to say if it’s a red card are looking at. They are trying to look at ways to not give red cards rather than referee what isn’t a legal tackle and should be a red card, in my opinion.

“This is our showcase, our opportunity to show what is legal and what is illegal, what we want out of the game. That’s two tackles now, both upright, both hit the head of our players, one had no sanction, not even a penalty, and the second one just had a yellow card. I don’t think that’s good enough.”

Townsend was pleased with the way his team handled the pressure of needing a bonus-point win to keep themselves in with a sniff of qualifying for the quarter-finals from a formidable pool B. The Scots’ seven tries were all scored by different players and four of them came in the first half, reducing any sense of anxiety associated with chasing the bonus.

“It was a bonus – literally – that we got those four tries in the first half,” he said. “It was probably a bit ahead of what we expected. Credit to the players for doing that.

“Tonga are a very good side with very good individuals. They are very physical. We talked about the fact that the work we did in the first 20 minutes might not necessarily lead to points on the board but we believed we could take away their fitness.”

Ireland’s win over South Africa on Saturday made Scotland’s qualification bid slightly harder than it already was as Townsend’s men will now have to beat the Irish in Paris in the last game and ensure their opponents do not get a losing bonus point. 

“Reading a few comments after the game, it looked like Ireland were already in the quarter-finals,” smiled Townsend, mildly miffed by such talk. “Even chatting to a few people today, they were saying it will be Ireland against New Zealand. Maybe that’s already been decided.

“We know we have to win our next two games, and it’s likely now we’ll have to win with either a bonus point or deny Ireland a bonus point. But we’ve got a game next week (against Romania) to focus on and we’ve got to get maximum points from that one first.”

Sheffield United have no immediate plans to sack Paul Heckingbottom after the club suffered their heaviest league defeat when they were hammered 8-0 by Newcastle.

The Blades were put to the sword by a rampant Newcastle to go six games without a win on their Premier League return, but Heckingbottom’s job is currently safe, the PA news agency understands.

There has been speculation linking former boss Chris Wilder to a Bramall Lane return, but even this embarrassing defeat will not change the board’s position.

When asked whether he will be the manager for the next game, he said: “Yes, 100 per cent.

“This might be a theme now by the looks of it. I can’t answer any of that, the game, the players, my department, yeah no problem, but things like that you are asking the wrong man.”

Heckingbottom, who guided the club to promotion last season, has overseen a difficult few days following the death of women’s player Maddy Cusack earlier in the week.

The midfielder, who also worked for the club’s marketing department, was just 27 and the club were left “devastated”.

And the boss admits he will be glad to see the back of a horrible week.

There were poignant pre-match tributes to Cusack and Heckingbottom said: “It has affected a lot of people, there were tears on the pitch before the game.

“But we were determined to end what has been a really tough week strongly and we weren’t able to do that. It has been a tough week for everyone at the club and one we want over.”

The Magpies rewrote the history books, registering their biggest away win and also becoming the first Premier League side to have eight different players score in a game.

Eddie Howe’s side, who endured a difficult start to the season, now look like they are clicking and performed superbly on the back of their midweek Champions League trip to AC Milan.

They did not take their foot off the gas in the second half as they racked up the goals and that was the most pleasing thing for the boss.

Howe said: “It has been a great week for us. That is football for you.

“Before the Brentford game, we knew the importance of that game, a massive point in the week and great to see us back to our very best today.

“I never doubted us in the final third, we have got some outstanding players, and we have had a very tough start to the season in terms of fixtures, but today we were ruthless and kept looking to score, which is they key thing.

“We respect Sheffield United and Paul Heckingbottom and the job he has done here but we just had to do our thing and keep pushing and trying to score goals.

“We weren’t aware of anything during the game regarding the records. We were just trying to keep pushing the lads to keep scoring goals, having that mentality and desire that we want in every game.

“We want to attack well, we want to entertain and be good value when people come and watch us play. One of our fundamental beliefs is that we are always looking to score.

“With top-quality players, results like this can happen, but very rarely, that is why we will enjoy it tonight.

“You hope this ignites something in us and we try to repeat, not the scoreline, but the performance on a regular basis. That is our aim, but the Premier League is very difficult.”

Victor Osimhen missed a penalty as Napoli drew 0-0 at Bologna to continue the early stutters in their Serie A title defence under new boss Rudi Garcia.

Osimhen, who earlier had a shot touched on to the post by Lukasz Skorupski, hit his spot-kick wide in the 72nd minute as the champions failed to win for a third successive league match.

The result, which follows a 2-1 loss to Lazio and 2-2 draw at Genoa, leaves Napoli seventh in the table, seven points behind leaders Inter Milan.

The opening stages of the clash at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara saw Osimhen hit a fifth-minute effort that came back off the far post via Skorupski’s glove, then head wide five minutes later.

Further Napoli efforts came with Piotr Zielinski shooting off-target and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s low drive being held by Skorupski, before Giacomo Raspadori bent an attempt just over the bar in first-half stoppage time.

After Osimhen was denied by Skorupski again in the 63rd minute, the visitors were awarded a penalty when Kvaratskhelia’s cross came off Osimhen and the ball struck Bologna substitute Riccardo Calafiori.

The verdict was handball and Osimhen stepped up, but while Skorupski went the wrong way, the Nigeria international could not get his effort from 12 yards on target.

A rare attack from Bologna then saw Joshua Zirkzee’s firm strike bring a save out of Alex Meret in the 75th minute.

Bologna appealed for a penalty of their own in added time when Alexis Saelemaekers fired the ball at Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, but it was not given.

Napoli – who won 2-1 at Braga in the Champions League last week – will attempt to get back to winning ways in the league when they host Udinese on Wednesday.

Scotland romped to the bonus-point victory they required over Tonga at Stade de Nice to kick-start their World Cup campaign and keep alive their hopes of qualification for the knockout phase.

The pressure was on Gregor Townsend’s side after losing their first game to South Africa and then seeing Ireland defeat the Boks on Saturday, a scenario that left them with no margin for error and in need of big victories from their remaining fixtures.

The Scots kept their composure, however, and showed their attacking quality to get themselves a foothold in the top-heavy pool B by recording a 45-17 win over Tonga, with their seven tries all scored by different players.

Scotland signalled their intent in the second minute when Blair Kinghorn chased down his own kick-through and outpaced the Tongan defence to get there but he knocked the ball on as he tried to slam it down over the line.

They only had to wait a further three minutes to get their first try of the tournament, though, as hooker George Turner pushed over following a maul. Finn Russell converted.

Tonga halted the early Scottish flow when William Havili sent his penalty between the posts in the 10th minute, and midway through the first half the Pacific islanders managed to get themselves in front when Solomone Kata ran on to a Salesi Piutau offload and dotted down on the right. Havili converted.

With the Scots trailing 10-7 more than a quarter of the way into a must-win game, they could have lost their composure, but they soon regained control of proceedings with three tries in the closing 14 minutes of the first half.

Duhan van der Merwe got them back in front in the 26th minute when he finished off a lovely move involving Sione Tuipulotu, Russell and Kinghorn by touching down on the left. Russell was wide with the conversion attempt.

Kyle Steyn – who scored a record four tries in the Scots’ last meeting with Tonga almost two years ago – then raced in on the right to score on the half hour following a lovely pass from Russell, who subsequently saw his kick come back off the post.

There was a flashpoint in the 33rd minute when Tonga back Afusipa Taumoepeau was sin-binned for a high challenge on Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie, who was forced off with a head injury and replaced by Matt Fagerson.

The Scots – anticipating that it might be upgraded to a red card on review – took advantage of their temporary numerical advantage when Rory Darge finished impressively in the last action of the half, with Russell on point with the conversion.

Shortly after Taumoepeau was surprisingly allowed to return to the field in the third minute of the second half, Tonga got back in the game when prop Ben Tameifuna bulldozed his way over on the left, and Havili added the extras.

With the deficit down to just seven points, Scotland reasserted themselves when substitute George Horne touched down in the 53rd minute after brilliant play by Van der Merwe to set him up. Russell converted.

Kinghorn and replacement Darcy Graham put the seal on a much-needed victory with late tries – both converted by Russell – either side of a yellow card for Tonga’s Vaea Fifita.

Newcastle completed the Sheffield double in style as they equalled their biggest win of the Premier League era at Sheffield United, whose difficult week ended in an embarrassing 8-0 defeat.

The Blades, who paid tribute before kick-off to women’s player Maddy Cusack following her death aged just 27 this week, endured a chastening afternoon on the pitch at Bramall Lane.

The Magpies hit Sheffield Wednesday for eight under Sir Bobby Robson in 1999 and they did the same to their city rivals on Sunday as Sean Longstaff, Dan Burn, Sven Botman, Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon, Miguel Almiron, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak all scored.

Any questions about how Newcastle would cope with juggling the demands of the Premier League and Champions League were answered emphatically in a vibrant display which asserted themselves as top-six contenders again following a slow start to the campaign.

The result will add extra pain to the Blades who were already suffering from the events of this week and it was their heaviest league defeat in history.

They were within minutes of beating Tottenham last week until succumbing to the latest Premier League comeback in history, but on this evidence, they are heading straight back to the Championship.

The pressure will mount on boss Paul Heckingbottom, whose side have taken one point from their first six games.

The build-up to the game was dominated by the Blades’ tribute to Cusack, who also worked in the club’s commercial department, with a poignant eulogy followed by her mum and sister laying a wreath on the centre circle.

The hosts were desperate to get a result in her memory and they started well with Luke Thomas having two good chances at the far post.

First he saw a drilled effort blocked and then put a similar effort, on this occasion with time and space, wide from James McAtee’s cross.

But things crumbled in a 14-minute period where Newcastle ran amok.

They took a 21st-minute lead as Gordon did well to get to the byline, but as he beat John Egan the ball bounced up and hit his hand before he pulled back to Longstaff to fire in from eight yards.

Despite the apparent handball, VAR did not intervene as it was ruled accidental.

There was no disputing Newcastle’s second goal 10 minutes later as Burn wriggled free of Anel Ahmedhodzic from Kieran Trippier’s corner to head home at the far post.

Tempers were beginning to boil as Jack Robinson received a yellow card for a strong tackle on Longstaff, even though he won the ball.

There was even more home anger from the resulting free-kick as Botman found space to head home and make it 3-0.

As Newcastle celebrated in front of the home end, fans threw missiles, with a drinks bottle hitting Elliot Anderson on the leg.

It could easily have been 4-0 but Wilson was denied by Wes Foderingham while Newcastle could have had a penalty but VAR opted not to get involved when Gordon was tripped by Jayden Bogle.

They needed 11 minutes after the restart to get their fourth as Wilson headed home yet another Trippier assist, with both players left in acres of space.

It was 5-0 just after the hour mark when Gordon capped a scintillating display by cutting inside and curling a fine 20-yard shot into the bottom corner.

Five became six when Almiron scored a beauty, firing into the bottom corner after Guimaraes incisive through ball played him in.

Guimaraes then added a seventh in the 73rd minute when he converted a loose ball before substitute Isak completed the rout by latching on to a loose header from Tom Davies.

Rangers manager Michael Beale admitted his team “got away with one” after edging past Motherwell at Ibrox.

A 24th-minute goal from Cyriel Dessers proved enough to make it three wins and clean sheets in a row and send Rangers above their opponents into third place in the cinch Premiership.

But there were jeers at the final whistle and Beale made it clear to his players they needed to do better after scoring against the run of play and then hanging on in the final 15 minutes.

“From the first minute onwards I was unhappy with the team,” he said.

“The unforced errors with the ball are unacceptable for players playing here. That performance was a really poor one.

“It’s a good goal, something we worked on, trying to overload in the middle with the width. But outside of that, some of our play was so poor against a team in a good place, well organised, who executed their plan better than us. We constantly turned the ball over and left ourselves vulnerable.”

Rabbi Matondo went off with a knee injury after his shot led to the opener, and Beale responded by bringing on centre-back John Souttar to match Motherwell’s formation.

Beale said: “Losing Rabbi (Matondo) to injury – and it doesn’t look like a good one – didn’t help us because we had few players who could dribble with the ball.

“But actually the back three gave us some stability and some possession and some balance behind the ball. I thought those three played well and John Lundstram in front of them and Jack (Butland).

“But in terms of performance that’s well below what the players expect, I expect, the fans expect. We got away with one.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Motherwell, they played well and I’m sure Stuart (Kettlewell) will take a lot from the game, but that’s well below what I am looking for from my team. We had honest words.”

Beale was also missing Tom Lawrence, who will be out until the international break with a calf injury and did not want to throw Kemar Roofe and Abdallah Sima on until later in the game with Wednesday’s Viaplay Cup clash with Livingston in mind.

“We have a quarter-final on Wednesday and it would have been reckless putting those two out on the pitch with that in mind,” he said.

“We had to do certain things to get the result because we weren’t very good.”

Motherwell suffered their second 1-0 defeat in succession and their first loss on the road in the league since Kettlewell took charge in February.

But they created a series of late chances with substitute Oli Shaw forcing an excellent stop from Butland and Blair Spittal being denied by a goal-line clearance from James Tavernier.

A “frustrated” Kettlewell said: “I’ve been involved in a lot of teams that have played here but I can’t remember too many when we’ve been dominant in stages of games, when you’re carving out chances, pinning Rangers in.

“When you look at Rangers towards the end of the game – and this isn’t a criticism, I don’t want people taking it that way – but when their goalkeeper gets booked for wasting time and they are trying to take the ball into the corner, I’ve not really seen that much here.

“That speaks volumes for our performance, but I hold my hands up yet again, we have created chances and we’ve not capitalised on it.

“That’s two weeks now where I believe we’ve not got what we’ve deserved.”

Tony Mowbray thinks Sunderland still have to get used to playing at the Stadium of Light against teams looking to frustrate their attacking style of play.

The Black Cats boss reflected on a disappointing day for his side when Cardiff defended well to pave the way for Mark McGuinness to head in an 87th-minute winner.

That was enough to lift the Bluebirds up to seventh in the Sky Bet Championship courtesy of a third win in a row but the result halted Sunderland’s impressive run.

Mowbray’s side were looking for a fourth successive win but instead McGuinness’ winner ended a five-match unbeaten run.

Cardiff set up to make things difficult for Sunderland from the start and along with some good defending, goalkeeper Jak Alnwick made a string of fine saves.

Mowbray said: “We shouldn’t be too disappointed, they gave it a real go. We found it last year, teams will come and defend here, get men behind the ball and they were very resilient.

“We have have to find that extra bit of quality. It felt like we dominated the game, and it could have been a nice 1-0 win for us.

“I didn’t think Cardiff looked like winning the game but they have nicked one in the end. It’s frustrating for us.

“There was lots of good stuff from us in the right areas, but maybe the final pass, that final ricochet, wasn’t there. Cardiff managed to block a few second half and we will give them credit, they came with a game-plan and we didn’t manage to break it down.

“We had the ball a lot and yet we didn’t find a way to score today. We had lots of moments and I am sure had we found that extra touch we would have scored and won the game.”

After a slow start to the season Cardiff are finding their feet under former Fenerbahce manager Erol Bulut, who took over in June.

And he is convinced the players are starting to understand his demands after another hard-working display that earned its rewards.

Bulut, who revealed the absent Aaron Ramsey was ill, said: “It was a great win, but first congratulations to Sunderland who have one of the best teams in the league. They have a good future ahead of them. It was not easy to have this victory for us.

“Sometimes you have to fight to win and score one goal and this time it got us a victory. We got the chance and we finalised it. We got the corner, there was great fight, and we scored from it.

“You could see the first games we had in the league, where we were leading and we lost points. Concentration was not how I wanted it. But we have trained, spoken about it, had individual meetings, and the last few weeks have been better.

“It’s still not perfect, and football is a mistakes game, so we tried not to make mistakes in the defence and we were in the right position to win.

“We have three wins now and we have to stay calm. I am a manager who tries to give maximum, take maximum and ask for the maximum. If we get those we will get rewards.”

Relieved Aberdeen boss Barry Robson believes his side finally got the reward they deserved for their hard work after picking up a first cinch Premiership victory of the season against Ross County – but insisted they will not get carried away with the win.

The Dons got their league campaign up and running in some style with a Bojan Miovski double and goals from Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes and Jamie McGrath giving them a convincing 4-0 victory, although one which perhaps flattered the hosts.

However, it is the result that mattered most to Robson ahead of the sides meeting again, this time on Viaplay Cup duty, in midweek.

The Dons boss, whose side had lost their previous four matches including a 2-1 Europa Conference League defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday, said: “I think we performed to a really high level. We looked really quick and aggressive at times, and scored goals at the right times.

“We’ve performed the way we want to perform and that was the pleasing thing today. We’ve played really well in a few games and with the European thing, I think we’ve learned how to deal with that.

“It’s hard to fight on all fronts, and that’s what we’re doing at the moment. We’ve got to stay in touch in the league, and we’re looking to stay in the Viaplay Cup, and compete in Europe.

“We won’t get carried away – lets just get our heads down and go and perform.”

Aberdeen were forced into an early change when James McGarry went off injured to be replaced by Jonny Hayes, who then also needed lengthy treatment after a late challenge from James Brown, but the hosts took the lead in the 22nd minute through Miovski.

Duk then doubled the advantage just before half-time and the Dons quickly killed off any County hopes of a second-half fightback when they netted twice in the opening seven minutes after the restart through McGrath and Miovski.

County boss Malky Mackay was clearly disappointed with the outcome, pointing to individual errors making his side authors of their own demise.

He said: “I thought we actually started the first 15 minutes reasonably well. It seemed to be the injuries for Aberdeen that changed the momentum a wee bit.

“There’s no real blame attached to the first goal, but the first 20 minutes of the second half we didn’t do ourselves any justice and Aberdeen deserved everything they’ve got.

“It’s about us going back in tomorrow morning – there’s glaring mistakes for most of the goals. It’s a Viaplay Cup quarter-final on Wednesday with the reward of going to Hampden. If there’s any disappointment it’ll be dealt with tonight. Tomorrow we’ll debrief that, and then the focus switches to Wednesday.”