Goals from Steven Fletcher, Carlos Cuellar and Stephane Sessegnon secured Sunderland's first away victory of the season at the expense of Fulham this afternoon.

In truth, the match turned on the sending off of Fulham defender Brede Hangeland for a lunging challenge on Lee Cattermole.

Here, Sports Mole has looked back over the 90 minutes to determine whether or not the result was a fair one or not.

Match statistics:

Fulham:
Shots 18
On target 13
Possession 45%
Corners 4
Fouls 9

Sunderland:
Shots 12
On target 9
Possession 55%
Corners 4
Fouls 13

Was the result fair?

In terms of the domination that Sunderland had in the second half, they fully deserved the points. Having said that, they were helped greatly by the red card that was handed to Hangeland. Still, it's not always easy to beat 10 men and Sunderland did the job professionally.

Fulham's performance

The home side actually created more chances after they had lost Hangeland. Despite the numerical disadvantage, they caused Sunderland problems and kept going to the end. Martin Jol will probably be disappointed with the lack of opportunities that they carved out when they had their full quota.

Sunderland's performance

As mentioned above, professional would be the best way to describe Sunderland's display. They made the most of their numerical advantage and scored some much needed goals. However, they did give the ball away needlessly on quite a few occasions.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Lee Cattermole: He's not always the easiest on the eye, but Cattermole's direct and powerful style helped pull Sunderland through today. He kept the ball well and made numerous tackles to break up Fulham moves.

Biggest gaffe

John O'Shea has played against some of the biggest names in the game during his time at Manchester United, but the way that he defended during Fulham's goal was amateur. He didn't play to whistle and instead assumed that Damien Duff was offside. He wasn't and the winger crossed for Mladen Petric to score.

Referee performance

Lee Probert had one big decision to make and replays suggest that he may have got it wrong. Hangeland was sent off for what was an honest challenge on Cattermole. Going back 10 years or so it probably wouldn't have been deemed a foul.

What next?

Fulham: The Whites will be looking to get back to winning ways when they travel to Stoke City next Saturday afternoon.

Sunderland: Martin O'Neill's side will play host to West Bromwich Albion next weekend.

Written by
Liam Apicella