Fletcher's double powers Sunderland past Crystal Palace

London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Steven Fletcher scored on either side of the intermission on Monday as Sunderland took a 3-1 victory over 10-man Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Gus Poyet's side has struggled all season and is coming off consecutive losses to Southampton and Arsenal in which the Black Cats were outscored by a score of 10-0, but the club had the better of the play in the early stages.

The visiting side opened the scoring in the 31st minute when Patrick van Aanholt got free down the left flank to the end line and served in an excellent cross and Fletcher got his head to it, nodding it down and into the bottom left corner from about 12 yards out.

Palace grabbed a fortunate equalizer in the 55th minute when a strong attempt on target forced Sunderland goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon into a fantastic diving save, but defender Wes Brown was a bit over eager and knocked the ball into his own net to put the sides on level terms.

The winning tally materialized in the 79th minute as William Buckley did well to find space on the right flank and he sent a low ball across the box. Jordi Gomez waited for it to arrive at his feet before firing a low, accurate strike into the bottom right corner, past a diving Julian Speroni.

Things then got worse for the home side when Australian international midfielder Mile Jedinak was shown a second yellow card by referee Phil Dowd and sent off, reducing the Eagles to 10 men.

Despite playing a man down, Palace could take some solace in the fact that the fourth official's board showed five minutes of added time, giving them a decent chunk to try to find an equalizer,

But it never came and Fletcher completed his double in stoppage time as the Black Cats hung on for their second win of the season and first at Selhurst Park in 19 years.