MICHAEL BEALE insists he won't lose too much sleep about Sunderland being labelled a one-man team after Jack Clarke's latest show-stealing display.

The Black Cats are ready to fend-off fresh January bids for the in-demand winger, who capped another man-of-the-match performance by grabbing a late winner to give Beale his first win as the Stadium of Light boss. 

Clarke's 11th goal of the season fired the Wearsiders back into the top six to lift the gloom after Beale's nightmare start in Saturday's 3-0 home defeat by Coventry. 

The new boss said: "You could say there's a bit of a reliance on Jack, but any team in the Championship would have a reliance on him as he's such a good player and we make allowances for him to do what he does. I'm delighted for him to score a goal like that.

"We've not had much time to work since Saturday after what was such a demoralising defeat so the mentality and character we showed to bounce back was brilliant.

"We hadn't had an away victory for a while and in the end I think we should have won by more. We were solid in our shape and it was down to which team could punish the other. Sometimes we're a bit fussy in the final third trying to score the perfect goal by making the extra pass but the finish from Jack was top class. 

"There were big performances throughout the team because we're coming away from home to a good team on the back of a home defeat so I have to say I'm delighted. 

"We now have to start showing consistency and back-up this kind of result. We know we can't get too high after a win or too low after a defeat. We know we can still be more ruthless in front of goal."

Sunderland are still waiting on the result of scans on the injury that forced defender Niall Huggins off against the Sky Blues at the weekend. Midfielder Bradley Dack is also set for another spell on the sidelines after failing to make it to half-time of his first start in approaching four months.

Beale added: "It's hard to get the results of the scans back quickly at this time of year, but we should have some news back on Niall in the next 48 hours. In Bradley's case, it's a hamstring and we'll have him scanned. I really feel for him because he's missed a lot of football over the last couple of years."

Hull dropped out of the play-off places after back-to-back defeats, and boss Liam Rosenior said: "It's a difficult one to take and the players are frustrated in the dressing room. I sound like a broken record because we need to be more ruthless in front of goal. 

"It was an even game between two teams pushing for the top six and they took their chance. We needed to make sure we kept the back door shut and we could have defended Clarke's goal better."