Luke O'Nien's sending off was the turning point as Sunderland's four-game unbeaten run in the Championship came to an end against Swansea City at the Stadium of Light. O'Nien was shown a straight red card for a late lunge on Oli Cooper inside the opening 20 minutes, leaving his teammates to play out more than 70 minutes of the match a man light and meaning he will now miss the Championship games at home to Middlesbrough, and away at Millwall, and the FA Cup trip to Fulham through suspension.
Swansea went in front through Joel Piroe just after half-time, but Dan Neil levelled things up midway through the half. But a cruel ricochet off Luke Cullen restored the Swans' lead minutes later, before Cooper added a third goal just over ten minutes from time to kill off any hopes of a comeback.
Defeat meant Sunderland slipped to tenth in the table, and are now three points outside the play-off spots. Tony Mowbray made five changes to the side that had started last weekend's FA Cup third round win at Shrewsbury Town, with Lynden Gooch coming into the side, Anthony Patterson restored in goal, Corry Evans and Jack Clarke returning in midfield, while Ross Stewart started up front.
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Bailey Wright, Alex Bass, Abdoullah Ba, Edouard Michut, and Jewison Bennette were the men to drop out. Swansea City boss Russell Martin made one change, in his case to the side that drew 1-1 at Bristol City in the cup last weekend, with Harry Darling replacing Nathan Wood.
Sunderland made a positive start to the game, with Roberts curling an early free-kick narrowly over the crossbar, and Dan Neil drawing a save out of Steven Benda with a long-range shot. At the other end, Matt Grimes skimmed the sidenetting with a shot from just outside the box with Patterson relieved to see the ball go the wrong side of the post.
Sunderland had a penalty appeal waved away on 18 minutes when Amad spun away from Cullen inside the area and then appeared to be dragged down, but referee Keith Stroud was unimpressed. Seconds later came the flashpoint as O'Nien went in with an aggressive, late, challenge on Cooper.
That sparked a melee with plenty of pushing and shoving, while the Swansea players surrounded Stroud and he eventually showed O'Nien a red card. That left Sunderland with more than 70 minutes to survive shorthanded and, with wideman Roberts sacrificed in order to bring on defender Danny Batth to plug the gap left by O'Nien, they dropped deeper and deeper which allowed Swansea to dominate the game.
Patterson turned an effort from Darling round the post, and later did the same with a free-kick from Piroe. Sunderland's best opportunity of the first half after going down to ten men came just before the break when Clarke seized on a loose pass and raced into the penalty area on the left before squaring for Stewart, whose sidefoot finish was deflected behind off a defender but the referee awarded a goalkick.
Swansea made the breakthrough five minutes into the second period, when Grimes crossed the ball into the box and Ryan Manning looped a shot up into the air where, Piroe was there to touch home from virtually on the goalline. Sunderland levelled on 65 minutes, as Clarke crossed from the left and Batth headed back across goal where Neil volleyed into the roof of the net.
But Swansea went back in front just five minutes later with a fluke goal, as Manning's low cross was met by Batth with an attempted sliding clearance but the ball ricocheted off Cullen into the net from close range.
Stewart saw a close-range shot blocked and then bundled behind as Sunderland looked for a second equaliser. However Swansea wrapped things up in the 78th minute when a shot from Piroe was blocked on the edge of the box, Cooper picked up the loose ball and got into the area on the right before lashing his shot into the top right-hand corner.
How they lined up
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, O'Nien, Gooch, Evans (Michut 83), Neil, Roberts (Batth 22), Amad (Ba 83), Clarke (Bennette 83), Stewart (Dajaku 83). Subs not used: Bass, Wright
Booked: Hume
Sent off: O'Nien
Swansea City: Benda, Latibeaudiere, Darling, Cabango, Manning, Grimes, Allen (Ntcham 76), Cooper (Cundle 86), Fulton, Cullen (Sorinola 84), Piroe. Subs not used: Fisher, Wood, Naughton, Congreve
Booked: Cabango, Piroe, Latibeaudiere, Sorinola
Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire)
Attendance: 40,001
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