Sunderland 0-2 Hull City

Sunderland defender Wes Brown was dismissed in the fourth minute for a foul on Hull Striker Shane Long

Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic scored the goals as Hull beat 10-man Sunderland to win in the Premier League for the first time this year.

Black Cats defender Wes Brown was sent off in just the fourth minute for a foul on Long on the edge of the box.

Long then glanced in a header from six yards to put Hull in front after Jake Livermore shot into the turf.

And Jelavic scored his first goal for the Tigers with a header from similar range as they climbed into 10th.

The win was Hull's first in the league since a 6-0 defeat of Fulham on 28 December, and only their second away from the KC Stadium this season.

And it was particularly sweet for manager Steve Bruce on his first return to the Stadium of Light since his sacking in November 2011.

Defeat ended Sunderland's three-match winning run as they slipped to 17th, with Brown's red card the team's fifth since Gus Poyet took over in October.

The former Manchester United defender was dismissed for the third time this season after bringing down Long following a stray back-pass from full-back Phil Bardsley.

Poyet bolstered his defence by bringing on Santiago Vergini for his league debut in place of striker Fabio Borini, and the Argentine went close to giving Sunderland the lead with his first touch, shooting wide after Ki Sung-Yueng's overhead kick.

But the home side's resistance with 10 men was short-lived as Hull took the lead through a predatory finish from Long.

Goalkeeper Vito Mannone brilliantly pushed Livermore's first-time shot over and, when the midfielder looped in a shot following the corner, Long reacted quickest to flick home a header.

It was the Republic of Ireland striker's second goal in as many games for his new club after joining from West Bromwich Albion in January.

With England manager Roy Hodgson watching from the stands, Adam Johnson had a chance to stake his claim for a World Cup place but the Sunderland winger saw little of the ball.

And his well-struck volley, which was well held by Steve Harper, was as close as he came to scoring.

But Sunderland did come close to an equaliser when Ki's shot deflected off Paul McShane and Harper had to push it wide for a corner.

At the other end, Jelavic dragged an effort wide after David Meyler's pass sent him clear, but the former Everton striker's wait for a first league goal this season soon ended.

Maynor Figueroa's hopeful shot from 25 yards looped up after hitting Vergini and Jelavic headed in from 10 yards.

The two-goal margin gave Bruce the luxury of being able to bring on striker Sone Aluko for his first appearance since undergoing an Achilles operation in October.

And the Nigeria forward went close to marking his comeback with a goal, but Mannone got down well to beat away his low shot from distance.

Sunderland manager Gus Poyet:

"It's difficult to analyse. Everything was set to have a great afternoon of football and after three minutes, it became really difficult.

"Playing 85 minutes with one less, it's even more difficult, so I'm not going to kill myself analysing the game because it's not worth it.

"We need to erase this and just keep believing that we were good before 3pm today. We were getting better and we were a difficult team to play against and we need to make sure this doesn't affect anything that we were doing before."

Hull City manager Steve Bruce on Long and Jelavic:

"They work hard for the cause and they are a good pair of strikers. I wouldn't want to play against them because they caused all sorts of problems today.

"If you look at all the teams in the bottom half of the division, we can't afford an [Sergio] Aguero or a [Alvaro] Negredo or a [Luis] Suarez, and that's the hardest part.

"For all the wonderful possession we had, we still needed to stick the ball in the back of the net and they have done it today."

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