HULL CITY manager Phil Brown spent the entire match prowling the touchline and waving his arms around in the manner of a demented traffic policeman.

By the end, though, it was clear Brown was not waving, he was drowning. Drowning under the weight of his the illjudged opinions he voiced before the game.

If Sunderland needed an extra incentive, it was possibly provided by Brown’s suggestion they were a team unworthy of their expensive price tag.

However tempting as it is to attribute Sunderland’s victory to Brown’s pre-match comments, the reality is rather more down-to-earth.

Ricky Sbragia’s team hardly required any extra reason to dispose of a Hull team that is in freefall; the prospect of Premier League survival proved more than enough.

Brown did make a valid point when he suggested after the match that quality had been a rare commodity, but – for all their shortcomings – this is a genuine and industrious Sunderland team and they always had the edge in an untidy match fittingly settled by an unsatisfactory goal from Djibril Cisse.

The France international moved back from an offside position before he headed in Andy Reid’s cross after a crucial touch from Teemu Tainio during stoppage time at the end of the first half.

Brown, creditably, declined to make an issue of the assistant referee’s failure to spot it and even Cisse admitted: “Maybe it was a little bit offside, but it was a difficult decision to give. It was a good moment to score.”

The value of that goal cannot be fully measured until the season is over, but it undoubtedly offers Sunderland a major lift in the region’s private battle for survival.

Sbragia, Southgate, Shearer.

The S-men are locked in an intriguing struggle at the foot of the Premier League – and it’s Sunderland’s Ricky Sbragia who has now edged in front.

It is over-optimistic to think that all three will emerge intact in a Great S-cape, but Hull have now been dragged into the heart of the equation and, with the most daunting run-in of the teams in trouble, could be heading for an instant return to the Championship.

There is certainly no danger of complacency creeping in at the Stadium of Light if defender Anton Ferdinand is to be believed.

“It’s not job over yet. We can’t think we’re safe until the season is over,” he said.

“Our job has to be to get as high up the league as we possibly can. We can’t think ‘We’ve won again’ and we’re out of it – it’s not going to be like that.

“We’ve seen plenty of times if you think you’re out of it you can get dragged back by other results. If we don’t win the next game we’re back in it.

“We’ve got to use this as a springboard and go on and win games.”

The margin of victory could have been even greater with Cisse squandering a good chance at the start of a second- half which also featured a disallowed goal by Kenwyne Jones and a shot against the post from substitute Daryl Murphy.

Hull, in response, forced a solitary save from Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon when he turned aside a first-half shot from one-time Black Cat Kevin Kilbane after a rare error by Ferdinand.

The centre-back combination of Calum Davenport and Ferdinand was the main reason Hull came up with so few threats, but all Sbragia’s midfielders also put in a solid shift.

And, while Cisse and Jones still don’t appear entirely comfortable in tandem, the strikers’ determined running unsettled Hull as much as a Stadium of Light crowd which played its part.

Ferdinand said: “The place was rocking, but they’ve been like that all year. It’s a joy to come and play in front of them week in, week out.

“I enjoyed the occasion and the players showed they could play on the big stage.”

Sbragia said: “It was an important three points. We played well against Manchester United last week and and had to show the same commitment and desire - and that’s what we did.

“It was a game we had to win and it is very difficult when you are under a lot of pressure to win a game.”