Sunderland beat Bolton Wanderers 3-1 on Saturday to boost their survival campaign with goals from Kieran Richardson, Kenwyne Jones and Daryl Murphy.
Richardson, who had not played since just after the start of the season, gave Sunderland the lead on 13 minutes with his first goal for the Black Cats.
Richardson was also involved in Sunderland's second goal on 32 minutes when his corner found Trinidad and Tobago international Jones, who scored his fifth goal of the season.
Fellow relegation candidates Bolton pulled one back when El-Hadji Diouf scored from a 41st-minute freekick which found the net just inside the far post.
With so much at stake, both sides decided not to take chances early on and the Trotters fielded Nicolas Anelka as a lone striker.
Richardson's goal was impressive as he controlled the ball before shooting left-footed past Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to claim his first goal for the club, although he was booked after celebrating his score.
The Wearsiders went two goals ahead just after Jaaskelainen had made a great save to prevent a looping ball dropping under the crossbar.
Jones got ahead of Joey O'Brien to meet Richardson's inswinging corner and power a header into the back of the net for his first goal in nine games.
Bolton gave themselves a chance to get back into the match when Diouf's freekick into the box dropped inside the far post.
No more goals were added to the score until the 90th minute, when Murphy found the net to seal the match.
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