Sunderland have halted a run of two defeats in the Premier League by earning a 3-1 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
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The visitors should have found themselves down to 10 men inside the first minute of the match when Fraizer Campbell burst through the defence before being fouled by Santiago Vergini, but the referee waved away their appeals.
Palace continued to dominate the opening exchanges, but it was Sunderland who took the lead just past the half-hour mark when Steven Fletcher headed in Patrick van Aanholt's cross.
Moments later the hosts had another shout for a penalty after Wilfried Zaha went down under pressure from van Aanholt, but again the referee decided to play on.
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Fletcher then threatened to add a second goal when he turned and fired in a powerful strike from just inside the box, but Julian Speroni beat away his attempt.
Palace went into the break trailing, but they began the second half on the front foot and after a succession of corners, Zaha saw his low drive held by Costel Pantilimon at his near post.
The hosts were soon rewarded by their dominance and they levelled the scores in the 55th minute when Wes Brown turned Campbell's cross into his own net, after Pantilimon had saved Marouane Chamakh's header at point-blank range.
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Sunderland looked to immediately regain their lead and Speroni had to be alert to palm away Vergini's powerful effort.
In the 79th minute the Black Cats did manage to score their second of the evening, as Will Buckley found Jordi Gomez in space just outside the box and the Spaniard guided a low effort into the far corner past Speroni.
Palace's hopes of getting back into the game took a blow three minutes from time, when Mile Jedinak was sent off for picking up his second booking.
The visitors made sure of the points in stoppage time when Liam Bridcutt stole possession and slid in Fletcher, who made no mistake to finish into the corner, leaving Palace with no time to come up with a response.
Alex Meyers
