Inside Sunderland's latest exciting afternoon as momentum builds for Tony Mowbray

The first two games of the campaign had yielded no points and yet Sunderland felt there was no great need for panic. 

The squad was still a work in progress, the performances had been OK in the main and not a great deal had gone their way. These things, you hope, even themselves out over time.

So it was here. This time the deflection fell Sunderland’s way, in the eighth minute of stoppage time when QPR were on the brink of making it to the interval with a one-goal lead that they so craved. And this time the big decision fell Sunderland’s way, Jack Colback sent off just ten minutes after the hosts had taken the lead against the run of play. It was the right decision on an afternoon where the officiating otherwise frustrated both sides, Colback clearly late and the studs clearly showing as he made contact with Jobe’s achilles. 

From that position, still seventy minutes to play in the unseasonal heat, it was a game that you would expect a potential play-off contender to go and win. 

That Sunderland did was a pleasing little marker of their development as a Championship side, more evidence even in favourable circumstances that they are a team more likely to be sat in the top half when the table begins to settle in the weeks ahead.

QPR had the potential to be genuinely tricky opponents, clear signs after a woeful period that the players are beginning to buy into Gareth Ainsworth’s message. For much of the first half this felt uncomfortably all those long afternoons against Ainsworth’s Wycombe Wanderers side, whose relentless running out of possession and canny knack of slowing the game down had so often left Sunderland floundering. Though QPR’s start to the season had been mixed, a win at Middlesbrough and only very narrow defeats to Ipswich Town and Southampton showed they are not to be taken for a soft touch.

Even after the red, for a period Sunderland looked a touch laboured. They controlled the ball but struggled to get into the areas where they could do real damage, and Asmir Begovic’s first real action was to pick the ball out of his own net. It would most likely have been a routine save from Jack Clarke’s speculative effort, but Steve Cook’s attempted headed clearance found the bottom corner just as precisely as Kenneth Paal had done at the other end.

From there: a different game entirely.

Tony Mowbray had been pleased with his side’s performance in the first half, pleased with their control and adamant that it was a matter of time before they scored. That control left him confident that he could take a chance, removing a defender and bringing on Patrick Roberts to inject more creativity in the final third. They passed through QPR at will from that moment onwards, threats out wide and threats on the edge of the box. From the moment they forced a corner in the first minute of the second half, it truly was a matter of time.

What will have pleased Mowbray is the foundation that allowed him to be so bold with those attacking players, Dan Ballard and Luke O’Nien coping admirably with the impressive Sinclair Armstrong and Trai Hume typically thunderous in the rare moments a high-risk, high-reward challenge was called for.

Even without the injured Bradley Dack, without Nazariy Rusyn or Eliezer Mayenda, Mowbray had depth, variety and quality. Abdoullah Ba took another step forward, not just with his goal but with the tactical discipline he showed throughout. Mowbray had challenged him to stay wide on the right, knowing that it would push QPR’s wide players back and allow his side to dominate the ball in midfield. His fear was that Ba, frustrated that the ball wasn’t finding him, might drift infield and let the runners in the opposition ranks break forward. Ba stuck to his task admirably, and was rewarded late on when time and time again he was able to drive at tired legs. A little vignette that reflects the wider picture of a team trending upwards.

Then there was Adil Aouchiche, thrown on for his debut and almost immediately finding a groove, clever 1-2s with Alex Pritchard and a host of smart runs into the right areas. 

With just two training sessions under his belt this was a tougher debut for Mason Burstow, who will need time not just to get on his team mate’s wavelength but also to adjust to the physicality of defenders in the second tier - but he is a striker and one who Mowbray is convinced has goals in him.

By the time Ba crashed his first-time effort into the top corner to make it 3-1, an increasingly delirious away end knew they could stand and watch relish. A team at total ease with the ball, in total harmony with each other and coasting to three important points.

There will be tougher tests than this and probably as soon as Wednesday night at Ewood Park. Sunderland will be without Dennis Cirkin due to a hamstring problem and potentially Pierre Ekwah with a dead leg. With Aji Alese still sidelined those two positions are probably the ones in which Sunderland were most vulnerable to an injury, and a level playing field for ninety minutes might expose them a little more.

This season is well and truly up and running now, though. And Sunderland are most definitely on the move.