Swansea kept their faint Championship play-off hopes alive by defeating promotion contenders Sunderland 1-0 at the Stadium of Light.

Ben Cabango’s 58th-minute winner proved the difference during a largely uneventful game to keep the Swans moving in the right direction under caretaker head coach Alan Sheehan.

Swansea have now taken 17 points from nine league games under Sheehan to climb up to 12th position with four games left.

Cabango’s second goal of the season frustrated Sunderland on home turf, inflicting a second home defeat of the season on the Black Cats.

Sunderland, who are all-but assured of a play-off spot, handed a first Championship start to teenager Harrison Jones in midfield. He was among three changes to the side which drew at Norwich but they struggled to get going.

Swansea arrived on Wearside with confidence having taken a huge step towards safety by beating Plymouth and they started brightly too.

Lewis O’Brien’s volley down into the ground bounced into the arms of goalkeeper Anthony Patterson inside the first couple of minutes.

That seemed to be a sign of an approach to attack Sunderland when they could, and the same player had an even better chance quarter of an hour later.

O’Brien was gifted the ball by Alan Browne in the final third. The midfielder’s first touch was heavy and his effort from a wide angle missed the target to let Sunderland off the hook.

But after that Sunderland – who had an early Wilson Isidor goal ruled out for offside – enjoyed more of the possession, despite struggling to make an impact in and around the penalty area.

The best and only real chance that was created in the opening period from the home side was when Tommy Watson cut back inside his marker and saw a shot saved by Lawrence Vigouroux.

Sunderland were also slow out of the blocks after the restart and Swansea deserved to go ahead when they did.

Eom Ji-Sung’s free-kick from the right was not dealt with by the home defence. After Harry Darling’s initial header crashed against the crossbar, Cabango forced the rebound over the line.

That gave Swansea even more confidence to move forward, even though Sunderland introduced Enzo le Fee and Eliezer Mayenda in a bid to improve things.

Full-back Trai Hume rolled a tame effort into the arms of Vigouroux after some clever wing play from Patrick Roberts. Otherwise Swansea held firm to clear some poor attempts to break the defence down.

There was one late scare for Swansea when Mayenda went down under a challenge from Ji-Sung in the box, but referee Farai Hallam waved appeals from the stands away and Sheehan had a third win in a row.