Sunderland score 2 second-half goals to come back from behind to win again in a feisty encounter against Norwich City.
Norwich defender, José Cordobá saw red for 2 yellow cards with fouls on Wilson Isidor and Chris Rigg.
Dan Ballard and Jobe Bellingham score for the second game in a row, as The Black Cats keep the pressure on the top 2.
Anis Slimane opened the scoring for Norwich in the 21st minute, after a corner caused a lot of problems for Sunderland, and after a big scrap, the ball fell kindly for Slimane and he smashed the ball home.
Just over a minute into the second-half, another Dan Ballard header drew them level after a brilliant cross from Eliezer Mayenda.
The referee seemed to have a very poor game, and he clearly couldn’t keep control of the players.
After handing out 9 yellow cards, it seemed odds on that there would be a red card, and there was in the 2nd half.
The Black Cats were able to take advantage of this quite quickly, and within 2 minutes of the sending off, Jobe Bellingham scored the winner.
He brought the ball down in the box and curled it in from a tight angle to give Sunderland all 3 points.
Wilson Isidor had a great chance to give Sunderland added comfort, as he ran through from halfway, but his effort went way over the bar.
The 10-men of Norwich almost stole a points towards the end, as Dan Ballard gave the ball away and Ashley Barnes’ shot was saved onto the post by Anthony Patterson.
The Black Cats still sit in 4th, 2 points off the top 2, but they have now moved 8 points clear of 7th.
Next up for Sunderland is Blackburn Rovers away on Boxing Day, where they will be backed by over 7,000 mackems.
MoTM – Chris Mepham