Having demonstrated their ambition off the pitch, Sunderland earned themselves some welcome respite on it last night with Kenwyne Jones, fresh from signing a lucrative new contract, propelling his club towards a crucial victory. It was for results such as this that Tottenham Hotspur’s pursuit of the Trinidad & Tobago striker was repelled.

Fulham, yet to claim a league win away from home this season, will feel betrayed by the scoreline, but they lacked the clinical instincts that Jones embodied. The wisdom of tying the striker to a new 4½-year deal, which was confirmed yesterday, was immediately demonstrated with his eighth goal of an injury-ravaged campaign.

Sunderland have been besieged by Spurs during the transfer window, but the wish of Niall Quinn, the chairman, is that their determination to keep Jones, allied to the expected arrival of a new centre half, will convince fans that intent has not wavered after Roy Keane’s departure. If Sunderland are to prosper, they require all the backing that they can muster from the stands.

Jones described his decision as a “weight off my shoulders” and while this was not an impressive team performance, Sunderland have exhaled. “Seeing the club taking a different direction, I want to be a part of that,” Jones said. “Ricky Sbragia, the manager, has big plans to take the club to the next level.”

He will hope that the next level does not include to a return to the Coca-Cola Championship.

Sunderland are now eleventh in the table, level on points with Fulham, and with games to follow against Newcastle United, their local rivals, and Stoke City, a measure of confidence should have returned. “In the first half we were disastrous, really poor,” Sbragia said. “I couldn’t go through that again. But the result was more important and I’m pleased for Kenwyne.”

For long stretches, both Jones and Djibril Cissé found themselves marooned from the rest of their colleagues, yet while their partnership remains better on paper than on the pitch, each forward possesses powerful qualities. That was demonstrated when Jones scored in the 55th minute, shooting powerfully after Andy Reid had been bundled over and Cissé’s subsequent effort parried by Mark Schwarzer, the Fulham goalkeeper.

Fulham were neat and enterprising, but their evening was encapsulated by Simon Davies, who contrived to shoot over the crossbar from two yards. “It was a good performance, but I can’t sit here and say we were robbed,” Roy Hodgson, the manager, said. “I don’t see the point of putting the black cap on every time we lose, but it’s a concern. Maybe the boys are just keeping me on a knife-edge like last season.”

Hodgson hopes that he may be able to reinvest the £5 million Fulham received from Hull City for Jimmy Bullard. “It’s the chairman’s birthday today, but we weren’t able to offer him a present, so it might not be the best time to ask him for money,” he said.

Sunderland (4-4-2): M Fulop — P Bardsley, A Ferdinand, D Collins, G McCartney (sub: P McShane, 70min) — S Malbranque, D Whitehead, T Tainio (sub: G Leadbitter, 81), A Reid (sub: C Edwards, 75) — D Cissé, K Jones. Substitutes not used: E-H Diouf, M Chopra, D Healy, N Colgan.

Fulham (4-4-2): M Schwarzer — J Paintsil, A Hughes, B Hangeland, P Konchesky — S Davies (sub: Z Gera, 75), D Etuhu (sub: E Nevland, 83), D Murphy, C Dempsey — A Johnson, R Zamora. Substitutes not used: P Zuberbühler, F Stoor, L Andreasen, T Kallio, C Baird.

Referee: M Halsey.