Hull City 0, Sunderland 1.

GIVEN he made the last of his six deadline-day signings within an hour of the transfer window swinging shut, it is safe to assume that Roy Keane is not afraid to leave things late.

The Irishman's most celebrated employers, Manchester United, were renowned for their stoppage-time success rate, and his current charges at the Stadium of Light have already been schooled in the importance of building to a crescendo in the latter stages of a game.

But after Ross Wallace's 92nd-minute winner finally broke some stubborn Hull resistance on Saturday, even someone with Keane's willingness to wait must be sensing there are easier ways to win a football match.

Last weekend, two goals in the final eight minutes accounted for Barnsley. Seven days later, and Wallace left it even later before pouncing to score the goal that Sunderland's bright, incisive attacking play unquestionably deserved.

The resultant six points are hardly to be sniffed at but, while perseverance is a trait to be encouraged, the Black Cats cannot keep relying on last-gasp heroics. At some stage, Keane's stoppage-time thrillers are going to have to become penalty-box killers.

"We should have had that game won before we did," admitted the Black Cats boss, who was forced to watch his side spurn a succession of gilt-edged openings before Wallace finally held off Andy Dawson to guide home the winner.

"We created three or four great chances, especially in the first half, but we just couldn't get the ball into the net.

"Just like last week, though, we kept on going. I know it's easy to say this now, but I had a feeling in my bones that we were going to get there.

"With the quality that we've got, we knew we were going to create chances right to the final whistle."

The victory would also have been sweeter had Wallace not celebrated his dramatic late winner by senselessly earning a second red card of the season.

Already on a booking following a second-half show of dissent, the Scottish midfielder raced to the 4,000-strong travelling support and immediately stripped to the waist.

The act might have been excusable had it been out of character, but Wallace, who is now ruled out of tomorrow's game with Cardiff and Saturday's trip to Norwich, had already been booked for an identical offence after scoring the winner in September's win over Derby.

In the constituency of philandering Labour MP John Prescott, Wallace clearly felt the urge to share in the politician's fondness for taking his clothes off in inappropriate circumstances.

"I suppose it was a show of passion," said Keane. "But you can try to channel that in the right way. The only person who suffers from this is Ross and I suppose I'll have to have a chat with him.

"I'll try to give him the benefit of the doubt for the second booking because I think it's difficult for players, even though he's done it before.

"But he's set himself up for the sending off with the first one. The first was for dissent and I have no sympathy in that sense. He's going to have to learn."

Yet while Wallace's dismissal left a sour taste in the mouth, it was nothing compared to the discomfort Sunderland would have felt had the 21-year-old not finally broken the deadlock.

Rarely can a side have dominated a match so completely yet left it so late to convert their superiority into precious Championship points.

With Dwight Yorke controlling the pace of the game from the heart of midfield, and Daryl Murphy and Chris Brown combining to offer a much-needed physical presence in attack, the Black Cats were superior in every department.

Yet while the chances kept on coming, Sunderland's players kept on dreaming up ever more imaginative ways of missing them.

Murphy flashed a ninth-minute header over the crossbar from the edge of six-yard box, Liam Lawrence dallied long enough to allow Danny Mills to hack clear when the ball dropped at his feet at the same spot, and Brown somehow missed the ball entirely when the industrious Dean Whitehead's cross left him with a two-yard tap-in 15 minutes from time.

In the end, even Hull's players appeared to be willing their visitors to break the deadlock, with Ian Ashbee glancing a header against his own crossbar and goalkeeper Boaz Myhill fumbling Wallace's 78th-minute free-kick against the woodwork.

Wallace, however, wasn't to be denied producing a deft curling finish to round off intricate approach play from the alert Brown and the overlapping Whitehead.

According to an age-old adage, the best things come to those who wait. If that is true, then given the amount of waiting Sunderland are doing at the moment, promotion should be just around the corner.