Hull City 0-1 Sunderland: Jack Clarke earns Black Cats boss Michael Beale first win
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Jack Clarke has scored 21 league goals for Sunderland since first joining them on loan from Tottenham in January 2022
Jack Clarke earned Michael Beale a first win as Sunderland boss with a late goal at Hull City.
After a first half that failed to reach any great attacking heights, both sides created numerous chances in the second period.
Hull's Aaron Connolly squandered a huge chance immediately after the interval as he mis-hit a shot directly at goalkeeper Anthony Patterson.
Both Patterson and Hull keeper Matt Ingram made crucial saves with less than 25 minutes left and, just as the game seemed destined to end a goalless draw, Clarke found the back of the net for the 11th time this season to win it for the Black Cats.
Beale's tenure as Sunderland head coach started miserably three days earlier, having slumped to a 3-0 home defeat by Coventry City.
Victory lifted them above Hull and into the play-off spots, with Tigers suffering just their second home defeat in six games to slip to seventh in the Championship.
Both sides made two changes for the Boxing Day game, with injuries seeing Ingram come in for Ryan Allsop while Jenson Seelt replaced Niall Huggins in Sunderland's defence.
Bradley Dack, who replaced Abdoullah Ba for his first start since September, landed an early glimpse of a Black Cats chance on the roof of the net with a looped volley.
England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham, older brother of Sunderland's Jobe, was again in the stands to watch his sibling
Jobe Bellingham - who was again watched by older brother and England star Jude during his side Real Madrid's festive break - was heavily involved in a number of half chances for the visitors before the interval, which included Patrick Roberts bending a shot wide and Trai Hume sending an effort over.
Hull's Connolly, who managed the first half's only shot on target, wasted a big chance immediately after the interval as he scuffed a close-range effort straight at keeper Patterson, who also went on to deny Liam Delap before the hour mark.
Delap again forced Patterson into a good save soon after, with the Sunderland keeper's intervention coming just a minute after Ingram kept Roberts out at the other end.
And while Patterson went on to tip a shot from Tyler Morton over, Ingram was eventually beaten by Clarke as he cut in from the left to finish in the bottom corner.
Hull City head coach Liam Rosenior:
"It was a very evenly matched game between two teams pushing for the top six.
"I thought we had the better chances, but they also had some degree of control.
"We're not taking control of the big moments of games - we didn't take our chances when they came our way.
"I'm tired of coming out with the same story. We haven't got the points our performances deserve."
Sunderland boss Michael Beale:
"I knew it would be a tough game and that we hadn't won away from home for a long time, but I thought we should have won by more.
"We missed some big chances. Some of our interplay was good and it was just whether we could execute that in the final third.
"I'm absolutely delighted with the mentality of the side. That's a big, big positive, but the big thing for me is that we need consistency. We must back it up against Rotherham."