How pivotal will this result prove to both these sides come the end of the season?

Sunderland may have games in hand courtesy of two unfulfilled cup runs but as Canaries boss Chris Hughton pointed out, nothing beats having the points on the board and Norwich are now seven clear of the drop zone.

No wonder the mood at the final whistle was euphoric, made even sweeter by all the other results affecting the teams hovering around the bottom.

Make no mistake, Norwich have struggled to score goals all season and have been woeful away from home.

Had they lost, they might arguably have imploded, with three out of the current top four plus Manchester United providing a dangerous run-in.

But ‘win your home games’ is one of football’s old adages and at Carrow Road they have invariably come up trumps when the going gets tough and put on an impressive show for the visit of Gus Poyet’s men.

Poyet had pledged to attack but instead the home side tore into his flimsy rearguard straight from the off.

Attack followed attack and just as Sunderland seemed to have weathered the bombardment, Johan Elmander picked up a poor clearance from Wes Brown and teed up Robert Snodgrass who finished coolly.

The permanently misfiring Ricky van Wolfswinkel fluffed a golden chance for 2-0 but it wasn’t long before the lead was doubled with a contender for goal of the season, a 35-yard screamer from Alex Tettey which, nine times out of ten, would have flown wide or over but was hit with inch-perfect precision to collective gasps of wonderment.

The home crowd lapped it up, shaking their clappers — those modern-day rattles which make an awful din but certainly add to the atmosphere when things are going to plan — with passionate gusto.

Cue two immediate midfield substitutions by Poyet and as the shadows lengthened, so Sunderland stopped chasing them. Yet for all their second-half improvement, they didn’t work John Ruddy enough except for one terrific save from Wes Brown’s strong header.

‘It’s been an up and down season for us but we are one of eight or nine sides who have struggled for consistency,’ said Hughton, whose team should possible have won by more.

‘But we’ve good at home and today I thought we were excellent. We needed a reaction from last week and because of the opposition we knew how big this was. Alex is not going to score many goals but it will be shown time and time again.’

‘It has been a good day for us,’ he added.

‘More important than those results it has been a good day for us here. Ultimately, the results from now until the end of the season will determined where we are and we have to make sure our results our good enough.

‘It is important to have a big a gap from where we are to the bottom three as possible. Last weekend we lost and other results didn’t go our way, today they did.’

‘We didn’t shy away from the fact we knew it was a big game. We knew it was big and I thought we excellent from start to finish.

‘They changed things and got the extra player up front. We have been good here at Carrow Road this year and haven’t conceded many goals, that is equally as important.’

The one consolation for Sunderland is that all their rivals dropped points but with every passing week, the jitters will increase as the Black Cats strive to extend their seven-year stay in the top flight.

Poyet conceded his side, who have the unenviable task of going to Liverpool on Wednesday, deserved nothing.

‘We were bad on the day plus Norwich were very brave,’ he said. ‘The second goal was from was not from this planet but if I could I’d have changed seven or eight players. It was so unexpected but while we definitely need to play better, I’m not that worried – not when you consider where we were when I first arrived.’

Poyet was also aware that results elsewhere had cushioned the blow of defeat but will not be relying on other sides to help him in his quest to keep Sunderland in the top flight.

‘If we keep looking at the rest and that results went good for us today, we forget about ourselves. You need to make sure you do your bit because that is what you are getting paid for.’

Poyet made two tactical substitutions five minutes before half-time but refused to single out Ki Sung-yueng and Jack Colback, the players hauled off, and was left upset by a slow start.

‘They made me make decisions I don’t like – I don’t like changing players in the first half. It wasn’t a case of one or two players, It was seven or eight but you cant change seven or eight,’ he said.

‘I think it is very disappointing when you start a game with the importance of today the way we did.’

—Daily Mail