Sunderland came from a goal down to win 3-1 against 10-man Queens Park Rangers in the league.

Rangers had former Sunderland midfielder Jack Colback sent off midway through the first half and the Black Cats equalized in stoppage time as Jack Clarke’s effort deflected off Steve Cook.

The extra man finally said it when Dan Ballard tapped in from close range after his initial shot was saved before Abdullah Ba completed the victory with a fine strike.

The victory leaves Sunderland seventh in the Championship table after six matches, while QPR drop to 19th.

An entertaining first half began with Paal’s goal from the edge of the box through a crowd of bodies before Sunderland’s Pierre Ekwah was forced off injured after just 14 minutes.

Colback saw red seven minutes later after a late challenge on Jobe Bellingham, who six minutes later thought he had equalized only for his header from Alex Pritchard’s cross to be ruled out for offside.

Bellingham came close again soon after before the equalizer came in the eighth minute of stoppage time when Clarke cut in from the left and Asmir Begovic could do nothing as the ball was deflected by Cook .

Ballard was off target with an effort from a corner early in the second half and Begovic did well to stop Ba before Ballard was back in action to give the visitors the lead.

Ba hit the post soon after as Sunderland dominated and a busy Begovic did well to deny Bellingham with 20 minutes remaining.

But the Frenchman would not be denied his first goal for the club as he fired Adil Aouchiche’s pass into the top corner.

Black Cats goalkeeper Anthony Patterson made two decent saves late on, while Luis Semedo almost scored a fourth goal as the visitors extended their unbeaten run to four games.

Gareth Ainsworth, head coach of Queens Park Rangers:

“Jack is a competitor and if you tackle hard these days and you miss your timing, the referees can give you a red card. He was a victim of that.

“We had a plan in place and looked very secure, but with 10 men it was always going to be difficult against a team who were one game away from the Premier League last year and spent a lot of money in the window transfer.

“It was difficult with 10. I’m not saying we definitely would have won with 11, but we had a plan.

“To get to halftime 1-0 would have been great. It’s another team talk at 1-0. After that I just wanted us to stay in the game.”

Sunderland head coach Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Newcastle:

“It’s disappointing to lose a goal, but I always felt like we started really well and were in control of the game.

“Being sent off shortly after that obviously helped us. Playing against 10 men like we were playing on such a hot day was a real problem for them and we managed to take advantage of that.

“I thought it was important to score before half-time, but they put a lot of men behind the ball and let (Sinclair) Armstrong up front, who is strong and powerful, but that’s how we broke the deep block, whether it was nine men or 10 men were behind the ball.