Sunderland vs Crystal Palace match report: Eagles overturn two goal deficit to claim victory after thrilling fight back

Sunderland 2 Crystal Palace 3: Late goals from James McArthur and Christian Benteke helped the Eagles snatch victory from the hands of their opponents

Christian Benteke added Crystal Palace's third and final goal to hand the Eagles all three points (Getty)

Alan Pardew had words of comfort for David Moyes after a stirring comeback from his Crystal Palace side saw the former Newcastle manager round-off a profitable return to the North-East.

Sunderland are bottom of the Premier League after surrendering a two-goal lead to leave them without a win in the first two months of the campaign for a fourth successive season. The statistics stack up rather better for the visitors, who recorded a third consecutive top flight win for the first time in almost 18 months after an injury-time header from Christian Benteke sealed a deserved victory to leave the Palace comfortably in the top half of the table, and their manager in bullish mood.

"The margin between us and the top teams is not that great," he insisted, after seeing his team make it six points from trips to Teesside and Wearside at the outset of the season. He added: "I'd include Southampton and Everton in that group as well, we're all pushing and jostling to challenge the top sides, and if we continue to play like we did today, then I'll be overjoyed.

"It's always nice to be back in the North-East. I've had some sticky days up here, and plenty of good days as well. I thought Sunderland played some good stuff, and I have sympathy for David, I really do. They've got a great manager here and some great players, they just need to get a win."

Pardew became a little more spiky when it was pointed out two that the Eagles' form is in stark contrast to that of the second part of last season, when for much of that spell they were in freefall. "Everyone keeps pointing back to last season, but that's the reason why we've changed things around," he added. "We've got goals in us now with the likes of Christian and Andros Townsend. We'd never have scored three goals in the second half of last season like we did today."

The crucial period of play arrived in a 60-second spell midway through the second-half, when Jermain Defoe found the bottom corner with a left foot shot from Duncan Watmore's deflected cross to double Sunderland's lead on the hour as the hosts enjoyed their best spell. Before they had time to even think about trying to shut up shop, Joe Ledley halved his side's arrears, firing past Jordan Pickford from 20 yeards with the help of a deflection off Patrick van Aanholt after the hosts failed to deal with Damien Delaney's lofted pass into the area.

Defoe fires the ball past Steve Mandanda for Sunderland's first (Getty)

Palace were level 14 minutes later when van Aanholt was easily out-jumped by James McArthur, who headed home an inviting cross from Zeki Fryers.

It capped a turbulent seven days for Sunderland's Dutch defender, who was the subject of strong criticism from Moyes in the wake of being pictured smoking a shisha pipe, the photos emerging days after the full-back had been pulled out of the defeat to Tottenham following a heart scare. "We're all in this together," insisted Moyes, attempting to deflect attention from the former Chelsea man.

Javier Manquillo of Sunderland is tackled by Crystal Palace's Andros Townsend (Getty)

Not content with a share of the spoils, Palace pressed for a winner, and were eventually rewarded when Benteke was afforded time and space to head home a free-kick from Lee Chung-Yong. "For us not to do the basics and not go with Benteke when we've given away a poor free-kick is entirely our own fault," conceded the Sunderland manager, whose side took a 39th minute lead when Defoe pounced on a woeful backpass from Ledley to poke a shot into the bottom corner beyond Steve Mandanda.

"He's arguably the best header of a ball in the Premier League and yet we give him a free run and jump.

"We hadn't played well enough to be two goals up, but I was still taking that all day," Moyes added.

"The players need to take responsibility, because I can't always lead them by the hand, they need to take responsibility for what they do on the pitch because we're where we deserve to be in the table and we're not making life easy for ourselves."

Sunderland (4-2-3-1): Pickford 6; Manquillo 5, Kone 6, Djilobodji 6, van Aanholt 4; Kirchhoff 5, Cattermole 6 (McNair 84, 5); Januzaj 5 (Anichebe 84, 5), Ndong 6, Pienaar 5 (Watmore 15, 6); Defoe 8.

Substitutes: Domingues, Denayer, Khazri, O'Shea.

Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Mandanda 6; Ward 5, Tomkins 5, Delaney 6, Kelly 5 (Fryers 74, 6); McArthur 7, Ledley 6; Puncheon 7 (Chung-Yong 90, 5), Cabaye 6 (Wickham 72, 5), Townsend 6; Benteke 7.

Substitutes: Hennessey, Mutch, Sako, Wynter.

Referee: A Taylor