League Championship/ Leicester City 0 Sunderland 2:Late goals from Tobias Hysen and Republic of Ireland international David Connolly earned Roy Keane's Sunderland a deserved win at Leicester yesterday.

Largely due to an impressive performance from home goalkeeper Paul Henderson, Sunderland had to wait until the 79th minute to take the lead, when Hysen turned the ball in after Daryl Murphy hit the crossbar.

Four minutes later Connolly prodded home a second after Murphy was again thwarted, this time by Henderson.

Sunderland went close twice in the 18th minute, when a Dean Whitehead cross flew across Leicester's six-yard box and Connolly was blocked by Henderson when the ball was pumped back in. With 25 minutes gone, Connolly latched onto Chris Brown's flick and Henderson made another save from the striker's 25-yard drive.

Half-time did not change the one-way traffic but they did not make the breakthrough until the last 11 minutes when Hysen made no mistake from close range. Connolly made it two soon after.

Keane said afterwards. "We showed great perseverance and I think we could have had a few more goals." He added: "This week there might be one or two coming in and one or two going out. We have thought over the last couple of months we need three or four more (players) but it's easier said than done."

Championship leaders Birmingham City, meanwhile, were defeated 1-0 yesterday by Ipswich Town.

LEICESTER CITY: Henderson, Stearman, McCarthy, Kisnorbo, Kenton, Hughes, Wesolowski (Cadamarteri 62), Williams, Porter, Fryatt, O'Grady (Hume 62). Subs not used: Logan, Tiatto, Maybury. Booked: Kenton.

SUNDERLAND: Ward, Whitehead, Varga, Nyatanga, Wallace, Stephen Elliott, Yorke (Leadbitter 60), Miller, Hysen (Hartley 84), Brown (Murphy 59), Connolly. Subs not used: Fulop, Welsh. Booked: Whitehead. Goals: Hysen 79, Connolly 83.

Referee: S Mathieson(Cheshire).