Swansea City suffered another agonising defeat to a Championship pacesetter as Sunderland came from behind to win a thriller at the Swansea.com Stadium.
The Swans – unbeaten in four heading into this encounter – started superbly and led 2-0 inside 17 minutes.
Žan Vipotnik opened the scoring with an opportunistic close-range finish, and Liam Cullen doubled the advantage with a stunning free-kick.
But Dan Ballard pulled one back before the break for the visitors, and the Black Cats then struck twice in three second-half minutes through Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham to secure just a second win in 12 games against the Swansea.
Head coach Luke Williams will again be wondering how his side have not taken something from a meeting with one of the top four. They carried a potent attacking threatened and had chances to add to their tally – notably before the break – and their pressing work was excellent for the most part.
But it will provide little comfort to the Swans boss and his players as they now prepare for a busy run of festive fixtures.
Gonçalo Franco, Ronald and Vipotnik had all returned to the Swansea line-up as Jay Fulton, Jisung Eom and Florian Bianchini dropped to the bench.
And they made a dream start when Sunderland’s defence fell asleep after initially clearing a free-kick from the left.
The ball found its way back into the box and, as the Sunderland defenders stopped and looked at each other, Vipotnik stole in and sent a low volley beyond Anthony Patterson in just the fifth minute.
It was nearly 2-0 just three minutes later. Franco stole in to rob Dan Ballard of the ball and then squared to Cullen on the edge of the area.
The Wales international’s shot looked destined for the bottom corner, but Patterson got fingertips to it to push it around the post.
But the in-form forward was not to be denied and, when more great pressing from Franco won the Swans a free-kick, he dispatched an unerring left-footed free-kick beyond the keeper and into the net off the underside of the bar.
Sunderland looked to respond, with Patrick Roberts being crowded out after he had got on the end of a Wilson Isidor knockdown in the box.
And the Black Cats pulled a goal back when Ballard stooped to head home Trai Hume’s free-kick in the 28th minute, steering the ball into the bottom corner.
Sunderland enjoyed the better of proceedings from that point, with Ben Cabango blocking well from Isidor’s strike, before the Swans swept upfield and nearly restored their two-goal cushion as Peart-Harris saw his volley strike a defender as it headed for the far corner.
Cabango then fired an effort wide on the turn after Harry Darling’s flick-on from a corner had troubled the Sunderland defence, as it remained 2-1 at the interval.
Swansea had another chance early in the second period. Ronald harried and harassed to win the ball off a defender and set off for the penalty area.
His pull-back found Vipotnik, but the Slovenian could not make clean contact as defenders closed in.
At the other end, Dennis Cirkin planted a header onto the roof of the net, while Isidor fired high and wide under pressure from Darling after a long ball had beaten the offside trap.
Swansea’s pressing had been relentless all afternoon, and the crowd responded when, after a spell where Sunderland delivered a handful of balls into the box, the hosts forced the visitors to shift play all the way back to their keeper.
Hume sent a strike straight at Vigouroux after cutting into the area before Mayenda was way off target after Sunderland had countered when Darling lost the ball in the middle of the park.
The next time Swansea gave up the ball they were punished, Neil driving forward from midfield to smash an unstoppable strike into the net via a flick off the woodwork.
That set up a frantic final 17 minutes, and Sunderland rode the wave of momentum to take the lead for the first team just moments later as Bellingham turned in a low cross after the visitors had got in down their right.
Swansea looked for a way back into it, but the best chances of the closing stages went the way of the visitors as Mayenda was denied by Vigouroux and then flashed an effort wide.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key, Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Josh Tymon; Matt Grimes (captain), Gonçalo Franco, Liam Cullen; Myles Peart-Harris (Jisung Eom 71), Ronald, Žan Vipotnik (Florian Bianchini 71)
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin Jay Fulton, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Cyrus Christie, Kyle Naughton, Nelson Abbey, Azeem Abdulai.
Sunderland: Anthony Patterson, Dennis Cirkin (Luke O’Nien 70), Dan Neil (captain), Dan Ballard, Jobe Bellingham, Patrick Roberts, Chris Rigg, Eliezer Mayenda, Wilson Isidor, Chris Mepham, Trai Hume.
Unused Substitutes: Simon Moore, Nazariy Rusyn, Adil Aouchiche, Aaron Connolly, Milan Aleksic, Leo Hjelde, Aji Alese, Harrison Jones.
Referee: Andy Davies
Attendance: 15,791
