Sunderland last won their first three league games in a season in 1925-26
Sunderland made it three Championship wins out of three with a narrow victory over Burnley to record their best opening to a league season for 99 years.
Romaine Mundle grabbed the only goal in the first half to maintain their fine start under French head coach Regis Le Bris and match a feat last achieved by the club in 1925-26.
But the result brought an end to Scott Parker’s unbeaten start with Burnley as the side relegated from the Premier League last season suffered their first defeat in the second tier.
The Black Cats were forced to play the last few minutes with 10 men after captain Dan Neil was sent off for a second booking, but the visitors managed just a single shot on target to leave Sunderland as the early leaders of the Championship.
Despite opening with two wins under Parker, there has been a lot of transfer activity at Turf Moor in the last few days with Sander Berge, Anass Zaroury and Johann Berg Gudmundsson all departing.
Republic of Ireland defender Dara O’Shea could be next out of the door as he was left out of the squad, despite Parker having to fill the substitutes bench with two goalkeepers and three youngsters yet to play for the first team.
And they struggled to find anywhere near the fluency that had seen them score nine goals in beating Luton Town and Cardiff City in their first two games.
Sunderland had made one change from their thumping win over Sheffield Wednesday six days previously with winger Jack Clarke, on the verge of joining Premier League newcomers Ipswich Town, missing.
His replacement, Mundle, almost set up an opener within five minutes only for Chris Rigg to drag it wide.
But the 21-year-old broke the deadlock himself after 26 minutes, burying a shot past James Trafford after he cut back on to his favoured right foot.
The Clarets had been second best and did not manage an attempt on goal until first-half injury time when Benin forward Andreas Hountondji headed wide.
They had more possession after the break but struggled to turn that into real chances - even after Neil was shown a red card.
After being booked towards the end of the first half, his second caution came for a late challenge on Clarets substitute Zeki Amdouni.
Sunderland will look to keep up their winning start when they travel to Portsmouth next Saturday, while Burnley must regroup for the east Lancashire derby at home to Blackburn Rovers on the same day in a lunchtime kick-off.
Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris told BBC Radio Newcastle:
"Our first 25, 30 minutes were very good. We played the game we wanted to play - we only scored one goal and that is my only regret.
"We pressed high, we recovered the ball high, we created many chances and a lot of danger in the opponent's box.
"The game was different second half. But I liked the way we defended at the end because the team spirit was good and we felt that we wanted to protect our goal and keep that clean sheet."
Burnley head coach Scott Parker told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"I'm bitterly disappointed in the result but the overriding factor is disappointment in how we acquitted ourselves today.
"We lacked an intensity in and out of possession. Although we were always in the game at 1-0, we lacked something today.
"It wasn't there for us to go and get a result."
