SUNDERLAND boss Ricky Sbragia admitted alarm bells were ringing at the Stadium of Light after seeing his side slip to their third successive defeat.

Youth team products Junior Stanislas and James Tomkins struck either side of half-time as the Hammers cruised to victory.

Grant Leadbitter and Steed Malbranque both went close early on before Sunderland crumbled after conceding from their own corner.

With Stoke, Bolton and Blackburn winning, the Black Cats were left fourth bottom – just three points clear of Newcastle United and the drop zone.

Sbragia, who has been challenged by chairman Niall Quinn to prove his managerial prowess before the end of the season, admits his side are desperate for three points.

“We thought maybe we could get something here this time. We need to get a win and we need to get it soon,” said Sbragia.

“We know the games that we’ve got coming up with Manchester United next weekend and we’ve got to do better than we did here.

“We can’t be relying on others.

We saw Blackburn win before kick-off but we need to take care of our own business.

“We gave away a free header in our 18-yard box and we cannot afford to do that.

“We’re killing ourselves when we do that.”

In his first West Ham start, Stanislas looked dangerous from the off, forcing Malbranque to concede a corner from which Lucas Neill flicked the ball wide of Craig Gordon’s goal.

Leadbitter flashed a response just past the post five minutes later after Malbranque had combined with Phil Bardsley to tee up the midfielder.

Leadbitter was a willing runner early on and after dummying the ball for Djibril Cisse, the 23-year-old continued his run, collected the Frenchman’s pass and forced Robert Green to make a fine save.

Where Leadbitter led, Malbranque followed in the 19th minute, cutting in from the flank but drilling the ball wide of the goal as Sunderland looked to dominate.

Yet rather than weather the storm, West Ham fought fire with fire and Di Michele thumped a shot wide of Gordon’s goal before the jinking Stanislas was denied when his strike struck the Italian.

Di Michele made amends 12 minutes later when he lifted the ball over the Sunderland defence and into the path of the charging Herita Ilunga.

But he could only fire wide.

After such a frantic opening the pace dropped before half-time, and with West Ham seemingly taking a breather in defence Cisse skipped the offside trap and smashed the ball at Green.

The jolt was just what the Hammers required.

From the resulting corner Green collected the ball and bowled it out to Boa Morte, who drove past Leadbitter’s naive challenge and squared for Stanislas to roll in his first West Ham goal.

Sbragia’s men were stunned and could have been two or three down before the break with Stanislas, Boa Morte and Noble winning a succession of corners, which Sunderland struggled to repel.

The Black Cats boss sent his side back out with purpose and Bardsley tested Green three minutes after the break with a firm shot.

But three minutes later Sunderland were undone by another set-piece.

Diego Tristan’s shot was pushed behind by Gordon, only for James Tomkins to rise unmarked and head the ball into the bottom right corner.

Again Sunderland failed to respond and Gordon was forced to save from Upson, Tomkins and Stanislas in quick succession.

Sbragia’s beleaguered side were offered a reprieve when Jonathon Spector fell awkwardly on his shoulder and the game was held up as he was eased on to a stretcher.

The break killed the Hammers’ momentum and left Sunderland with eight minutes of stoppage time to turn the game on its head.

Cisse sprang the offside trap but blasted the ball wide before Richardson thumped the ball into Green’s hands from 30-yards as the visitors ran out of ideas.

Leadbitter did force James Collins to hook the ball off the line but West Ham responded with Kieron Dyer and Tristan almost adding a third.

“I thought we started well and had couple of chances and we thought we’d go in 0-0 at the break,” said Sbragia.

“It made it very difficult for the second half so we looked to change it, then we conceded again from the corner kick – a set play – so from our point of view it was very disappointing.”