Andy Carroll scored and set up another as West Ham United scraped past Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of Light.
The results sees the Hammers jump up to 11th in the league standings, while Sunderland remain 19th spot, four points adrift of safety.
The hosts nearly opened the scoring in the second minute as Phil Bardsley's shot from the right went just wide of the upright.
West Ham opened the scoring with their first opening game in the ninth minute, as Andy Carroll rose the highest to head home Matthew Taylor's corner.
Sunderland could have leveled matters three minutes later but Lee Cattermole fired his close range effort straight at Adrian, before firing the rebound well over the bar.
Taylor tried his luck from the edge of the area in the 19th minute but the West Ham midifelder's snapshot went just wide of the mark.
The rest of the first half proved to be a dull affair, as neither side managed to create any clear cut chances.
The home side nearly equalised a minute after the restart, as Connor Wickham fired inches wide from a tight angle.
Four minutes later and and the visitors increased their advantage as Mohamed Diame's deflected shot managed to find its way into the back of the net, after the Senegalese got on the end of Carroll's knockdown.
Stewart Downing nearly added a third in the 59th minute but the winger placed his effort inches wide, after a latching onto a delightful pass from Mark Noble.
Five minutes later and substitute Adam Johnson reduced West Ham's deficit with a clinical finish from the edge of the area.
Adrian came to West Ham's rescue in the 68th minute with a doublw save, firstly to deny Ki Sung-Yueng from distance before blocking off Connor Wickham's from close range.
The goal seem to spark the hosts into life and they nearly leveled matters in the 72nd minute as Fabio Borini's powerful strike crashed into the side-netting.
Borini tried his luck from distance in the 80th minute but the Italian fired his effort straight at Adrian, who held on comfortably.
