London - Kenwyne Jones struck twice as Sunderland beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-2 on Sunday to go eighth in the table. In a breathless game of two penalties, two own goals, and a goal from an indirect free-kick taken from the edge of the six-yard line, Sunderland squandered a two-goal lead before battling back to pull ahead again.
"We have gone from the ridiculous to the sublime," said Sunderland manager Steve Bruce.
"The one thing we have got is the threat up front, and that's got us out of jail, but defensively we have got to improve.
"There are times we went into meltdown. We gave the ball away too easily."
"We really played well," said Wolves manager Mick McCarthy. "But the result tells the story."
Sunderland took the lead after eight minutes, Darren Bent converting a penalty after being bundled over by Segundo Castillo.
They weren't particularly comfortable for the rest of the half, seemingly uneasy against Wolves's high tempo approach, but they doubled their advantage two minutes after the break.
Again Bent was fouled in the box, tripped by Christophe Berra, and this time Jones scored from the spot.
"I saw the way he was looking at me like he was going to kill me," Bent said when asked why he'd let Jones take the second.
"It's good for all your strikers to get on the scoresheet."
Bruce was unhappy at the change. "They'll not do it again," he said.
Two minutes after that, though, Wolves came back into it, as Berra's shot was parried by Craig Gordon, but cannoned into the chest of John Mensah and into his own net.
And five minutes after that, Wolves were level. A bad backpass from Kieran Richardson forced Gordon to concede an indirect free-kick on the edge of his own six yard area.
The initial kick was charged down, but Kevin Doyle reacted first to stab in the rebound.
"We were leading comfortably but we had two lapses of concentration," said Jones. "Then you saw the character of the lads."
Sunderland became increasingly frustrated, but an astonishing game took another twist with 21 minutes remaining.
Bent knocked the ball back for Jones, who stepped inside Berra and drilled a low 25-yard drive just inside Wayne Hennessey's right-hand post.
And four minutes after that Michael Turner headed his first goal for the club after being gifted a free header from a corner.
Wolves continued to press, Richardson clearing one off the line, but Sunderland stole a late fifth, Bent's shot deflecting off Michael Mancienne and past Hennessey.
