Kevin Phillips collected a double to open his Premiership account and give Sunderland their first win after a no-holds-barred battle with Watford.
The England striker kept his cool from the penalty spot after Mark Williams was adjudged to have fouled Niall Quinn with 62 minutes gone and then added a brilliant second four minutes from time in a perfect tonic to Saturday's 4-0 drubbing against inform Chelsea.
The victory was just about deserved as the home side finally ground down the visitors, but the result remained in doubt until Phillips' second strike.
Sunderland owed much to the efforts of Alex Rae in central midfield alongside record £4 million signing Stefan Schwarz, and winger Nicky Summerbee, who caused all kinds of problems down the Watford left.
But goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen also played his part with four excellent saves to preserve a precious clean sheet.
Watford will rue a handful of missed chances which could have altered the game before they fell behind, but they could have few complaints on the final whistle.
Subderland manager Peter Reid fielded two of his new signings for the first time as Schwarz and John Oster were thrown into the fray.
Sunderland: Sorensen, Makin, Bould, Butler, Gray, Summerbee, Rae, Schwarz, Oster (McCann 68), Quinn (Dichio 75), Phillips. Subs Not Used: Marriott, Ball, Helmer. Booked: Makin, Bould, Dichio. Goals: Phillips 62 pen, 86. WATFORD: Day, Lyttle, Page, Williams, Easton, Bonnot (Gudmundsson 75), Johnson, Palmer, Kennedy, Ngonge, Mooney. Subs Not Used: Gibbs, Brooker, Foley, Walker. Booked: Easton, Johnson, Ngonge.
Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).
