Goals from Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse gave Sunderland gave Roy Keane a 2-1 win over Paul Ince's Blackburn Rovers.

It also gave them revenge for the Carling Cup defeat by the same opponents in midweek.

Jones pulled Sunderland level after Christopher Samba had opened the scoring for the home side with Cisse then grabbing the winner.

Rovers could have taken the lead as early as the second minute when Keith Andrews headed the back into the path of Stephen Warnock, but he failed to test goalkeeper Marton Fulop from close range.

Blackburn maintained a high tempo and Zurab Khizanishvili saw his effort scrambled away following a corner from Morten Gamst Pedersen in the seventh minute. And when Pedersen delivered a second successive corner Roque Santa Cruz peeled away from his marker but headed against the bar.

Blackburn's pressure paid off in stoppage time when Samba made the breakthrough, powering in a header from Pedersen's corner.

But the lively Jones was not to be denied and equalised two minutes later with a clever overhead kick as Blackburn failed to clear.

Kieran Richardson whipped in a free-kick from an acute angle which Paul Robinson did well to turn over the bar as the game turned on its head.

Sunderland went ahead in the 72nd minute when Steed Malbranque released Cisse with a cushioned header.

Robinson came out to try and narrow the angle, but Cisse got there first and chipped the ball over the goalkeeper and into the net.