Ki Sung-Yeung's first-half penalty gave last-place Sunderland a surprise 1-0 win at 10-man Everton on Thursday after goalkeeper Tim Howard was sent off for bringing down the South Korea midfielder.
Ki, who is on loan from Swansea, darted into the box midway through the first half and was tackled by Howard, who was given a straight red card. The midfielder then converted the 25th-minute spot kick to give Sunderland its first away win of the season and a much-needed boost in its fight to escape the relegation zone. Gus Poyet's team remains bottom, three points from safety.
?Everton brought on Ross Barkley as a substitute and piled on the pressure after the break but could not find an equalizer, with Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone pulling off several impressive saves.
Everton is fifth after only its second loss of the season, five points off the league lead.
Howard saved a shot by Jack Colback shortly before the incident that led to his sending off. Howard opted for a short goal-kick to Leon Osman, who couldn't control it and Ki stole the ball and tried to go around Howard but was fouled by the goalkeeper.
Ki, who also netted the winning goal against Chelsea in the League Cup quarterfinals, then made no mistake in firing the penalty in past substitute goalkeeper Joel Robles.
Robles looked shaky as he fumbled Ondrej Celustka's drive in the 36th minute but did well to block the follow-up by Sebastian Larsson and from the resulting corner, Ki miscued wildly when trying to shoot.
After the break, Everton began to apply some pressure but Mannone made a decent parry to keep out Phil Jagielka's header and got his hands on Romelu Lukaku's attempt at a rebound shot.
Lukaku then saw Mannone get down to claim his drilled shot from outside the box, before Barkley - who netted so spectacularly in the previous game against Swansea - sent another ambitious effort too high.
Mannone comfortably dealt with further shots from Lukaku and Barkley, then produced a delightful save to push behind a rising drive from Bryan Oviedo.
