Sunderland seized upon a long-overdue slice of fortune to sink West Brom and claim only the Black Cats' second Premiership win of a desperate season.

Anthony Le Tallec's 72nd-minute effort appeared to be drifting wide when it struck Baggies defender Steve Watson and deflected past Tomasz Kuszczak.

And with painful memories of the last-gasp equaliser conceded in the reverse fixture at the Stadium of Light in September, Mick McCarthy's men fully deserved their raucous final whistle celebrations.

The result dropped the Baggies back towards the danger zone and kick-started McCarthy's push for a miracle by taking the Wearsiders within a mere 11 points of safety.

Both sides might have started with the incentive of knowing the fate of their relegation rivals, but the first half was bereft of any apparent urgency to improve survival chances.

Kuszczak had little chance to follow up his wonder save which sealed the points at Wigan last week as he was relegated to the role of virtual spectator in the first period.

The home side started a little more brightly but Darren Carter was a little too ambitious with his 30-yard effort in the second minute which sailed well wide of Kelvin Davis in the Sunderland goal.

It was always unlikely to be a day for the spectacular with Albion desperate to clamber a further point clear of the bottom three and McCarthy's men simply hoping to kickstart a miracle.

Unsurprisingly Sunderland's beleaguered defenders looked edgy early on with Martin Albrechtsen and Ronnie Wallwork both attempting to capitalise with dangerous balls into the box.

The visitors created their first half-chance after quarter of an hour when Justin Hoyte's cross from deep on the right just missed the head of Julio Arca in front of goal.

Straight down at the other end, Nathan Ellington found space on the right side of Sunderland's box but his unselfish pass to Kevin Campbell resulted in a mis-kick by his fellow frontman.

Wallwork almost set up an Albion opener in the 24th minute when his drive from outside the box deflected off team-mate Junichi Inamoto and was well saved by the wrong-footed Davis.

Ellington screwed the best chance of the game far over the crossbar from little more than eight yards in the 35th minute after stretching to meet a driven cross by Watson.

Tommy Miller's long-range drive which flew well wide was the best Sunderland were going to get as a dull first period drew to a close.

Hoyte had the first effort of the second half with a speculative long-range drive which also failed to trouble Kuszczak as it flew harmlessly over the bar.

As the visitors pressed, Arca had an agonising miss in the 50th minute when he stuck his right foot onto a pinpoint cross by Liam Lawrence only to fire wide from 10 yards.

Sunderland's mini-surge was causing discontent among the home fans, mindful of the tremendous importance of this fixture in the Baggies' drive to avoid the drop.

Ellington had 55th-minute penalty appeals brushed aside by referee Phil Dowd after twisting his way into the Sunderland box and falling under Dean Whitehead's challenge.

The former Wigan man tried his luck from long range two minutes later but Davis proved equal to his bobbling low drive and gathered it well.

Watson gave away a dangerous free-kick with a foul on Jonathan Stead on the edge of the Albion box but Arca sent the set-piece straight into the Baggies wall.

But as the early second-half surge began to subside, Sunderland once again resorted to long-range efforts with Lawrence not too far away from the edge of the box in the 66th minute.

With time running out on Albion's hopes of claiming three points, Robson made his first change in the 69th minute, introducing striker Geoff Horsfield in place of Inamoto.

But the visitors were first to take a rare chance when Le Tallec squirmed into the right side of the Baggies box and saw his poor shot deflected into the net off Watson.

And for once they managed to cling onto their advantage until Dowd blew the final whistle to give them their first Premiership win since September.