Ten-man Sunderland lost out to rivals Newcastle United in the Premier League 2 Wear-Tyne derby at Eppleton.
Luke Charman’s penalty inside the first 10 minutes, awarded after Bali Mumba had brought down Victor Fernandez, gave the visitors the perfect start.
And when Brandon Taylor was shown a straight red card just after the midway point in the first half for a handball which referee James Bell decided denied the Magpies a goalscoring opportunity, it left the Black Cats with a mountain to climb.
It was largely one-way traffic after that but Newcastle had to wait until the final 20 minutes of the match for Fernandez to make it 2-0 and kill the game off.
It was a seventh straight league defeat for Elliot Dickman’s side, who remain bottom of the table with just one point from eight games.
Newcastle climbed one place to fourth-bottom.
Sunderland fell behind on seven minutes with Charman converting from the spot after Mumba had allowed Fernandez to get past him inside the area and could only bring him down.
The Black Cats had a chance to level on the quarter-hour when Dan Neil swung in a dangerous free-kick from just outside the left-hand corner of the box but Taylor could not make contact at the far post.
The Magpies almost doubled their lead a couple of minutes later when Charman volleyed narrowly wide from Thomas Alan’s cross.
Sunderland’s problems increased on 24 minutes when centre-back Taylor was given his marching orders.
Charman looped a header wide from a corner shortly before the break as Newcastle finished the half strongly.
And with a man advantage, the visitors dominated the second half with Charman bringing a fine save out of Anthony Patterson just after the restart, and on the hour the Magpies striker blazed over from six yards after his initial shot had been blocked.
Jack Bainbridge cleared off the line from Fernandez as Newcastle piled on the pressure.
And they eventually made their extra man count as Fernandez doubled his side’s lead, turning home from close range on 72 minutes.
SUNDERLAND: Patterson, Mumba, Taylor, Bainbridge, Evans, Sammut, Neil (Gamble 78), Dunne, Connelly, Kokolo (Edmundsson 27), Kimpioka (Greenwood 63). Subs not used: Abdelkader, Connolly
BOOKED: Neil
SENT OFF: Taylor
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Langley, Cass, Mcentee, Francilette, Walters, Sterry, Sangare, Alan, Young (J Scott 87), Fernandez (K Scott 75), Charman. Subs not used: Turner, White, Anderson
BOOKED: Cass
REFEREE: James Bell (South Yorkshire)
