Sunderland picked up their first win of the season as Stoke's defensive horror show ensured the visitors' unbeaten start to the campaign ended. Sunderland were 3-0 ahead before the half-hour mark with Asmir Begovic fumbling Titus Bramble's shot as Stoke fell behind in the fifth minute. Jonathan Woodate then headed into his own net, before Craig Gardner's deflected shot looped over Begovic. Sebastian Larsson's free-kick made it 4-0 on a day to forget for Stoke. Given the scoreline it was hard to believe that Sunderland had mustered just two points before Sunday's game, with the win moving Steve Bruce's side up to 12th in the table having been second from bottom. Bruce left out captain Lee Cattermole, though the feisty midfielder was scarcely missed, with David Vaughan impressing in his first Premier League start for Sunderland since his move from Blackpool. There might have been an element of fortune in Sunderland's three first-half goals, but in truth the second and third were preceded by impressive passages of possession football. Stoke had started the day fifth in the talbe- with the chance of moving into the top four - but their hopes of doing so quickly unravelled when Begovic fumbled Bramble's shot following a corner to give the Sunderland defender his first goal for the club. The visitors had played Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League on Thursday in the Ukraine but Stoke can hardly plead tiredness given manager Tony Pulis made eight changes to his side for Sunday's game. Perhaps of more importance was the lack of commitment and organisation that had been key to their recent 1-0 league win over Liverpool - instead mistake after mistake, with a smattering of misfortune here and there. Woodgate was the next player to err as he attempted to stop Larsson's dipping pass reach Niklas Bendtner only to head the ball past Begovic. Misfortune rather than individual error led to Sunderland's third as Ryan Shawcross attempted to block Gardner's shot with his intervention only helping to divert the ball past Stoke's Bosnian goalkeeper. Stoke barely functioned as an attacking unit in that first-half shambles - with Peter Crouch particularly anonymous - though Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet did well to get a hand to Marc Wilson's free-kick, while Titus Bramble also blocked a Cameron Jerome shot. Pulis's side looked more threatening at the start of the second half but any hopes of a revival were extinguished when Larsson's cleverly flighted free-kick made it 4-0. It might have been five had Bendtner got more of a connection to the ball following a cross from the left from Richardson. Substitute Kenwyne Jones also might have done better in a late Stoke counterattack but he allowed Sunderland's defence to regroup and his shot was blocked by Bramble.