Queens Park Rangers 1-3 Sunderland: Jack Colback sent off as Black Cats come from behind to win
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Jack Clarke's deflected effort began Sunderland's comeback at Loftus Road
Sunderland came from a goal down to win 3-1 at 10-man Queens Park Rangers in the Championship.
Kenneth Paal gave the R's a fine start as he blasted in low from distance after Sunderland failed to deal with a throw from the hosts.
Rangers had former Sunderland midfielder Jack Colback sent off midway through the first half and the Black Cats levelled in stoppage time as Jack Clarke's effort deflected in off Steve Cook.
The extra man eventually told as Dan Ballard tapped in from close range after his initial shot had been saved before Abdoullah Ba completed the win with a fine strike.
The win lifts Sunderland up to seventh in the Championship table after six matches while QPR drop to 19th.
An entertaining first half began with Paal's goal from the edge of the box through a crowd of bodies before Sunderland's Pierre Ekwah was forced-off with injury after just 14 minutes.
Colback saw red seven minutes later after a late studs-up challenge on Jobe Bellingham, who six minutes later thought he had equalised only for his header from Alex Pritchard's cross to be ruled out for offside.
Bellingham again went close soon after before the equaliser arrived in the eighth minute of stoppage time when Clarke cut in from the left and Asmir Begovic could do nothing as the ball deflected off Cook.
The game turned in Sunderland's favour when Jack Colback was sent off against his former club
Ballard was off-target with an effort from a corner early in the second half and Begovic did well to save from Ba before Ballard was again in action to give the visitors the lead.
Ba hit the post soon after as Sunderland dominated and the busy Begovic did well to keep out Bellingham with 20 minutes left.
But the Frenchman would not be denied his first goal for the club as he blasted Adil Aouchiche's pass into the top corner.
Black Cats goalkeeper Anthony Patterson made two decent saves late on, while Luis Semedo almost got a fourth goal as the visitors extended their unbeaten run to four games.
Queens Park Rangers head coach Gareth Ainsworth:
"Jack's a competitor and if you tackle hard in this day and age and miss your timing then the refs can come down with a red card. He's been a victim of that.
"We had a plan put in place and looked very secure, but with 10 men it was always going to be difficult against a team that were one game away from the Premier League last year and have spent good money in the transfer window.
"It was hard with 10 men. I'm not saying we definitely would have won with 11, but we had a plan.
"To get to half-time 1-0 would have been great. It's a different team-talk at 1-0 up. After that I just wanted us to stay in the game."
Sunderland head coach Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Newcastle:
"It's disappointing to lose a goal, but I always felt we'd started really well and were controlling the game.
"The sending off not too long after that was obviously a help to us - to play against 10 men the way we play on such a hot day was a real problem for them and we managed to capitalise on it.
"I thought it was important to score before half time, but they do sit a lot of men behind the ball and leave (Sinclair) Armstrong up the top who's strong and powerful, but it was how we broke down the deep block whether nine men or 10 men were behind the ball."