RICKY SBRAGIA doesn’t come across as the sort of manager who believes that throwing words at a problem will solve it. But his tacit call in midweek for Sunderland to be more ruthless was answered yesterday — much to his relief — in a typical fraught and fractious relegation scrap.

As well as fulfilling their manager’s request, Kenwyne Jones and David Healy’s goals also ensured that justice was done. If it had not been, then referee Rob Styles would have been under pressure to explain why he denied them a valid penalty.

Sunderland were incandescent when Danny Pugh knocked a close-range Steed Malbranque header off the line with his outstretched arm after 40 minutes. The obvious case for a penalty was registered by everyone in the Stadium of Light with the exception of Styles and his assistant.

But while Sunderland clustered around the referee to make the point, he phlegmatically waved them aside, as though nothing had happened.

Not even the Sunderland’s amalgam of disgust and incredulity persuaded Styles of the legitimacy of their claim. The derision of the crowd also bounced off him.

Worse still for Sunderland, Styles’s assistant on the touchline closest to the incident fell victim to temporary myopia and couldn’t be called on to give evidence in the home team’s favour either.

Until that implausible escape, Stoke manager Tony Pulis must have thought he’d walked under a row of ladders without realising it.

Inside the opening half-hour he was forced to substitute three injured players. The most worrying for Pulis was the plight of his striker Ricardo Fuller, who tumbled over after an impeccable tackle from Danny Collins and fell so awkwardly that he dislocated his shoulder.

Every step from box to dressing-room brought terrible pain for the player, shown in the anguish on his face.

Stoke were further exposed when Matthew Etherington succumbed to a moment of madness mid-way through the second half — barging into Collins before kicking out at him. A red card followed. “It changed the game,” said Pulis. “But it wasn’t violent. I hope the referee looks at it again.”

Sunderland still had to wait until the 78th minute for the breakthrough. Andy Reid’s long cross was met by Jones, who capitalised on Thomas Sorensen’s slip to head in at the back post. Healy, brought on in the dying moments, added the finishing touch to the win in the final minute of stoppage time.

Star man: Danny Collins (Sunderland)

Yellow cards: Sunderland: Collins, Bardsley Stoke: Diao

Red card: Stoke: Etherington

Referee: R Styles

Attendance: 38,350

SUNDERLAND: Fulop 7, Bardsley 7, McCartney 7, Ferdinand 7, Collins 8, Malbranque 7 (Edwards 70min), Whitehead 7, Richardson 7, Reid 7 (Murphy 83min), Jones 7, Cisse 7 (Healy 86min)

STOKE: Sorensen 7, Wilkinson (Pugh 18min, 7), Shawcross (Sonko 25min, 7), Faye 7, Kelly 7, Diao 7, Whelan 7, Cresswell 7, Etherington 6, Beattie 7, Fuller (Camara 29min, 7).