Hull 1 Sunderland 4:Sunderland caretaker boss Ricky Sbragia remained non-committal on whether he wanted the job full-time after guiding his side to a second successive win today.

The Black Cats hit three late goals at the KC Stadium to leap out of the Premier League bottom three with a win over 10-man Hull.

Sbragia's side were second best in the first half after veteran Nick Barmby cancelled out Steed Malbranque's superb opener but they took firm charge in the final 13 minutes.

Kieran Richardson's shot was deflected in off Kamil Zayatte and Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse made the sure of the win after Sam Ricketts was sent off for two bookable offences.

It meant Sunderland had won back-to-back games for the first time since March and Sbragia's credentials for the manager's post are growing.

Roy Keane's former assistant boss said: "We just want to keep it going. If it isn't broken why mend it?

"I'm happy with how things are going. We've got a big game against Blackburn on Boxing Day and we just have to focus on that.

"I'm happy with what I am doing and the players are responding extremely well. I just want to keep it going.

"For me it is just focusing on Blackburn and trying to enjoy a little bit of Christmas."

Zayatte's own goal, quickly followed by Ricketts' dismissal, transformed a game that could have gone either way.

Sbragia added: "We had a little bit of luck with the second goal but if you don't shoot you don't score.

"We'd have been happy to see it out at 2-1 but unfortunately for Hull they had a man sent off and that made it a little bit easier for us.

"The players have gelled extremely well today and it breeds a lot of confidence when we get a win."

Defeat ended Hull's five-game unbeaten run and cost them the chance to move level with fifth-placed Arsenal on 30 points.

Boss Phil Brown felt his side had been well beaten.

Brown said: "There's massive disappointment that we didn't bring our capabilities to the table.

"We have performed well on a number of occasions but that was probably one of our worst performances.

"It's a poor day at the office in terms of the scoreline. It's a result I couldn't see coming, I didn't think Sunderland were going to cause us that kind of a problem in the second half.

"What that cutting edge was, why we didn't bring it to the table I don't know.

"Maybe we were thinking of the 30 points, getting ahead of ourselves. Maybe we forgot how good Sunderland could be."

Brown was unhappy with the sending off of Ricketts, for fouls on Malbranque and Phil Bardsley.

He added: "It's a ridiculous decision. The lad's got the ball. I've looked at it from two angles.

"The lad (Bardsley) has made a meal of it. Sam Ricketts has caught the ball cleanly. But that's life in the Premier League."

On another sour note for Hull, a missile appeared to be thrown at Bardsley soon after the Ricketts incident.