Fulham 1-3 Sunderland: Black Cats pounce on ten-man Cottagers

Sunderland moved themselves away from the relegation zone with a much needed 3-1 win over Fulham in the Premier League.

The Black Cats were without a win in six games in all competitions going into the match against Martin Jol’s men who were unbeaten in five.

But injuries and the sending off of centre-back Brede Hangeland took their toll on the Cottagers allowing Martin O’Neill to jump for joy at the final whistle.

The home side saw Alex Kacaniklic, who has been in good form for the hosts, limp off with a suspected hamstring injury after 27 minutes.

And the misery was compounded just our minutes later as Norwegian defender Hangeland went in hard on Lee Cattermole, earning himself a red card.

Fulham bravely battled on and didn’t look like a side with ten-men but just five minutes after the break their resistance was broken.

Adam Johnson, yet to hit the kind of form which earned him a move to Manchester City and several England caps with his new club, flighted a tremendous pass from the halfway line straight in to the path of Steven Fletcher. And haring down on Mark Schwarzer the clinical striker wasn’t about to fluff his lines, slotting the ball beyond the Australian’s glove.

The Cottagers admirably found a leveller as Mladen Petric’s fired home his fourth goal of the season from Damien Duff’s cross.

But O’Neill’s charges found an extra gear and Carlos Cuellar headed them in to the lead just after the hour-mark from Sebastian Larsson’s corner.

And, to round off the victory, Stephane Sessegnon hammered a fine strike in to the back of the net, via the upright, as he turned his marker outside the area.

The result pushes Sunderland up to 15th in the division and Fulham remain ninth after the weekend’s action.