SUNDERLAND climbed into the top six of the Championship thanks to a 3-1 win at Blackburn, their third successive victory. Here's how the players rated:

7 Patterson: Busy throughout but made a number of fine saves, the best of which was to deny Travis at full stretch early in the second half.

6 Hume: Tricky opening half an hour but grew into the game.

9 Ballard: Immense, heroic defensive performance. Made three brilliant goal-saving blocks. Blackburn only managed to score when Ballard was off the pitch receiving treatment.

8 O’Nien: Stood firm alongside Ballard, throwing himself in front of shots and doing his best to stay calm amid the chaos.

6 Huggins: Struggled in the early stages as Blackburn attacked in waves down the right side. Remained composed and grew into the game.

8 Neil: Helped to wrestle back some control after Blackburn’s blistering start.

7 Bellingham: Mature midfield performance. Did the ugly stuff well and showed his class on the ball. Tireless.

6 Ba: Showed flashes of his quality but Sunderland’s best attacking play came down the left or through the middle.

7 Pritchard: Found pockets of space and used his experience and quality to help release some of the early pressure.

8 Clarke: A threat throughout on the counter. Won and scored the penalty before wrapping up the points late on.

6 Burstow: It didn’t drop for him in the box but the Chelsea loanee put himself about, made a nuisance of himself and linked up well with fellow forwards.

Substitutes:

7 Roberts (for Burstow, 63): Caused tiring Blackburn problems on the counter from the bench.

Aouchiche (for Pritchard, 90+2): N/A

Subs not used: Bishop, Hemir, Taylor, Seelt, Triantis, Rigg, Watson

BLACKBURN: Pears 6, Brittain 7, Hyam 6, Carter 6, Pickering 6; Wharton 6 (Garrett, 72), Travis 7 (Rankin-Costello, 58), Szmodics 7; Hedges 7 (Markanday, 58), Moran 6 (Telalovic, 83), Leonard 7 (Dolan, 58)

Subs not used: Wahlstedt, Hill, Wharton, Edmondson

Man of the Match: Dan Ballard. Colossal defensive performance. Three brilliant blocks, led by example.