Preston North End 2-1 Sunderland - Mads Frokjaer keeps Lilywhites unbeaten
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Mads Frokjaer is congratulated by Will Keane after putting Preston ahead
Preston held-on to secure a hard-fought 2-1 win over Sunderland at Deepdale.
Will Keane scored for the second game running to put the hosts ahead but Jack Clarke hauled the visitors level from the penalty spot before the break.
Dane Mads Frokjaer secured the points on the hour when he netted his first goal in English football on his home debut.
North End are unbeaten in their opening two league games, while Tony Mowbray's Black Cats have lost their first three matches of the season in all competitions.
Sunderland handed a debut to former Blackburn striker Bradley Dack and began the brighter in front of 6,000 travelling fans, with Ryan Ledson blocking efforts from Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham before Pierre Ekwah saw a long-range shot turned over the bar by Preston goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.
However, the deadlock was broken at the other end on 25 minutes when Frokjaer's curling effort from just outside the box deflected past Anthony Patterson off the knee of Keane, making his second Deepdale debut.
Woodman saved a free-kick from Patrick Roberts but the visitors drew level just six minutes after going behind when Kian Best clumsily brought down Clarke in the box, allowing the former Leeds and Spurs man to find the corner from the spot.
Dennis Cirkin's timely second-half block denied Alan Browne a second for the hosts while Ekwah fizzed another 25-yard strike past the upright.
Best drove forward and fired over from the edge of the area before his side retook the lead just before the hour as Sunderland conceded possession cheaply and Browne surged forward before his attempted diagonal pass broke through to Frokjaer to sidefoot home with just Preston's second shot on target.
The hosts had to withstand some late pressure as Roberts was superbly denied an equaliser by Woodman's reaction save 15 minutes from time and Luke O'Nien powered a header narrowly wide from Clarke's corner.
Defeat means Sunderland begin the season with back-to-back league defeats for the first time in seven years and have lost their opening three games of the new campaign after their EFL Cup defeat to Crewe in midweek.
Preston boss Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"You've got to be horrible sometimes. We have to make this place horrible. We've got to be uglier than we've ever been.
"We're not getting carried away. We'll keep coming up with game plans. If there's times we can play football we will do it. You find a way to win.
"Mads [Frokjaer] is a flair player, a maverick, it's what we wanted. He's getting better each time. He's got a bit of magic on the ball."
Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Newcastle:
"It was very similar to last week really - a similar amount of the ball, a similar amount of set plays, a similar amount of chances and we didn't capitalise on them. Fine margins.
"Was it that different from the game here at the end of last season when we stuck the ball in the back of the net three times? We'll be fine. I feel like the team are functioning ok apart from the last little bit. If we were getting dominated... they had two shots on target and scored with both. We just have to keep doing what we're doing.
"You should judge football on the performance level of the team but we don't, we get judged by results. The results are not very good but the performance level in both games has been pretty good."