SUNDERLAND will be without Wes Brown for next weekend’s FA Cup tie against Saints after being sent off for the third time this season.

The Black Cats saw their recent Premier League recovery stall as they went down 2-0 to the Tigers at the Stadium of Light after Brown was dismissed with less than four minutes played.

It was all painfully reminiscent of boss Gus Poyet's third game in charge when he sent his side into battle at the KC Stadium on November 2 and saw both Lee Cattermole and Andrea Dossena sent off before half-time as Carlos Cuellar's own goal handed the home side victory.

Poyet said: “It was one of those days when it doesn't matter how you play or what you do because something will happen and go against you.

“I'm very pleased that we don't play Hull any more this season because every time we play them, something happens.”

Brown's premature exit proved to be the pivotal moment in a game which slipped from his side's grasp before it had really begun.

Phil Bardsley's poor back pass put Shane Long in on goal and the former Manchester United defender's efforts to rectify the damage resulted in a sliding challenge which sent the £7million January signing sprawling.

Referee Mike Jones had little option but to show Brown a red card - his third of the season, although one was later rescinded on appeal - but Sunderland were at least spared further punishment as the offence was committed marginally outside the penalty area.

Sunderland’s woes increased with 16 minutes gone when Long headed them in front, and their misery was complete 17 minutes after the restart when fellow new boy Nikica Jelavic scored his first goal for the club.

Poyet summed up: “We can talk about how (Hull) planned the game or how they wanted to play, but at the end of the day, they won because Wes Brown got sent off, that's the bottom line.

“For five or six games, they couldn't win before this one, so something went for them.”