GRANT LEADBITTER'S first Sunderland goal was enough for all three points in a well-contested game against Sheffield Wednesday.

The result was a fair reflection of a game which saw chances for both teams, but in which the hosts always looked the sharper.

Wednesday created a glorious chance in the 11th minute, with Marcus Tudgay's header finding Drew Talbot all alone in front of goal, but he got the ball stuck under his feet and Stanislav Varga recovered.

Sunderland then had a great chance moments later when Daryl Murphy ran onto Tobias Hysen's cross but shot straight at Jones.

Murphy the hit the cross bar with cross on 26 minutes.

The first half ended with a great chance for Yorke, but he fired wide of the left post when unmarked on the edge of the area.

The second half saw Dean Whitehead hitting the post with a drilled shot from 20 yards.But after those early flourishes the game became scrappy until Sunderland broke the deadlock in the 58th minute.

Liam Lawrence found space to send in a cross from the right and the Wednesday defence stood still as Leadbitter broke through to power a first-time shot past Jones for his first Sunderland goal.

Murphy should have scored and have had a penalty as Sunderland held on.