SUNDERLAND manager Lee Johnson was level-headed about his side's hard fought win over Bolton Wanderers admitting there was plenty of fight but not much composure. 

Carl Winchester's sixteenth minute strike was the deciding goal of the game as the Black Cats sealed a fifth home win out of five maintaining their record as the best home team in the top four divisions of English football. 

Winchester sealed his third goal of the season smashing the ball high into the net from Dennis Cirkin's cross. 

Johnson's side had chances in the second half to put the game to bed but clung on in the closing stages as the away side piled on the pressure to go in search of a win. 

“I think we made some poor decisions on the ball" said Johnson.

“When you’re out there and you’ve been a player and you want the win so much, sometimes it’s the hardest thing in the world to do to have the fire in the belly and the ice in the head.

“We had the fire in the belly today and not quite enough of the ice in the head.

“In saying that, we’ve had three or four breakaways that really we should have been more potent with. Like I say I’m pleased.

“The lads have come in and not feeling almost like they’ve won because of how much effort they’ve had to put in and I was really conscious to say that is a really good result and you’ve got to enjoy it, particularly for the next 24 hours.

"I think the fans willed us on.

"We were making some emotive decisions I thought, which led us to giving the ball away more often than I'd have liked but at the same time, I can't knock the too much because I've asked them to play.

"You can't have both, the intention to keep the ball but tell someone to shell it when it sits on the edge of the box.

"That's a big three points for us, because they will take a lot of points and be up there at the end of the season. By Christmas you will see them rooted in the top six, I'm fairly sure of that."

While the club see the victory as another important three points on the board, Johnson will no doubt pick out the flaws in the game and said his side should have killed the game off and extinguished any hope of Wanderers getting back into the game. 

"We had a good start, but you had to pick up that moment.

"I thought our positioning in possession was poor, and it led to lads almost thinking they were having good individual performances but without doing enough for the team dynamic.

"We weren't using the trigger pass or turn as a catalyst for our pressing, and there wasn't enough penetration in behind.

"To be fair we shouted on just before the goal to get our full backs higher and to be more aggressive, and it worked because we were able to go full back to full back soon after.

"Then it's about killing teams off. I know that might sound a bit disrespectful to Bolton because they had some very good chances in between, but we had a lot of opportunities and it's something I believe we can really improve on.

"Someone is going to get beat four or five, law of averages says it with the openings we're creating."