Full-time: Sunderland 1 Hull City 3

IF Sunderland supporters went in to Christmas boosted by defeating Newcastle United for a fourth time in a row, they were left frustrated on Boxing Day by a similar run of a different kind – involving a Geordie.

And to make matters worse it was former Sunderland boss Steve Bruce, who failed to lead the Black Cats to victory over the Magpies during his time in charge on Wearside, which brought a packed Stadium of Light back down to earth with an almighty bump.

Bruce, subjected to the jibes about his Newcastle-loving roots throughout the encounter, claimed his fourth straight win over Sunderland as Hull City boss and Gus Poyet’s players only had themselves to blame.

Poyet and plenty others will argue about the performance of referee Andre Marriner, who once again angered those of a red and white persuasion having previously infuriated them on a couple of occasions; most recently at Hull last year when Lee Cattermole was sent off.

But to point the finger of blame purely at Marriner on an afternoon when Sunderland, once again, lacked adventure and creativity in the final third - against a team boasting just four wins from their previous 27 Premier League fixtures - would be embarrassing.

Just five days after the euphoria surrounding the derby day win on Tyneside, Sunderland should have had no problems in following up that momentous afternoon with a further victory from the struggling Tigers. They failed to.

Once Adam Johnson had secured the best of starts inside just 28 seconds, Hull responded well. Gaston Ramirez levelled things up in the 32nd minute and defender James Chester put them ahead five minutes after the break. Nikica Jelavic hit a runaway third in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

After Johnson had scored so early on, Hull looked shell-shocked and more than capable of caving in. Given the manner of the way the goal was conceded, it was understandable.

There were still plenty of the near 45,000-strong crowd walking to their seats when Hull contrived to somehow gift Sunderland the ideal Christmas present courtesy of Curtis Davies. It was if Davies had eaten too much turkey and was on the verge of falling asleep as soon as the whistle had blown.

When a routine ball down the line was flicked harmlessly on, Davies had all the time in the world to take control of the situation. Rather than do that, Davies dawdled and Johnson closed him down.

When the former Newcastle and Sunderland target did decide to pass back to his keeper, he made a complete hash of it. Johnson nipped in, rounded goalkeeper Allan McGregor before turning in on goal and finishing things off coolly.

That seemed to be the perfect start for a team looking to build on the success of last Sunday at St James’ Park, with Johnson, Fletcher and the attacking players on the pitch wearing red and white willing to try different things to cause problems.

Despite the woeful nature of Hull’s poor start, however, Sunderland failed to take advantage; even if Marriner did have his own part to play in the reasons for that not happening.

Before Hull’s freaky equaliser just after the half hour, Sunderland had struggled to pose a further threat to McGregor. The nearest the home side came to adding to their lead was when John O’Shea headed over a corner when he ought to have at least hit the target.

Sunderland moved the ball around confidently but, as so often this season, just lacked that final pass. An inability to make the most of the visitors’ slack movement and passing did encourage Bruce’s players to try a couple of their own things in the final third and they somehow got rewarded.

Having worked themselves from left to right and deep in to the Sunderland half, Ramirez eventually took control with his back to goal. He was allowed to turn and shoot from 22 yards.

The effort certainly did not look like it would cause too many problems, but Costel Pantilimon made his decision early to dive low to his left. When the ball took a cruel box just in front of him, it lifted high enough to find the net.

Marriner should have pointed to the spot when Johnson’s flick towards the penalty spot was clearly stopped in its tracks by the trailing arm of Bruce. There was also a second claim moments later when a combination of Stephen Quinn’s face and hand thwarted a Billy Jones delivery, but that was waved away once more.

The first one was a much stronger claim and could easily have been given, although Sunderland were still unfortunate not to take the lead when Seb Larsson had a reverse flick over McGregor cleared off the line by Bruce.

Argentine Santiago Vergini, who passed a late fitness test to start on the right with Jones starting left for the first time since October 4, was also denied a fine goal when McGregor stopped a well-driven strike destined for the top right corner.

But after seeing the game through to half-time with the score level, Bruce managed to get his Hull players going after the restart. Sunderland struggled to get out of their own half for much of the half, even if the referee was involved again for Hull’s second.

When Jordi Gomez won the ball deep in the Sunderland half, he left his foot high and former Sunderland midfielder David Meyler dropped to the floor to earn a free-kick. Pantilimon made a stunning save from Robbie Brady’s free-kick, but Hull had a corner.

Ramirez floated his delivery to the near post, Chester timed his run to get an inch or two on Vergini and the Hull defender rose to glance a header high in to the top corner. It was not the start Sunderland had hoped for.

Hull, despite Sunderland’s changes, were comfortable and Sunderland never recorded a shot on goal in the second half before Jelavic raced away to complete the win deep in top stoppage-time.