Norwich City suffered a 2-1 defeat against Sunderland in their final away Sky Bet Championship fixture of 2024.
Anis Ben Slimane's first-half opener was cancelled out within two minutes of the start of the second half by Dan Ballard.
A terrible two minutes for Norwich then saw off their chances as José Córdoba was dismissed with Jobe Bellingham scoring the winning goal.
There were two changes made to the City team that suffered a 2-1 defeat to Burnley the week before. Jack Stacey and Onel Hernández came into the starting line-up at the expense of Kellen Fisher and Oscar Schwartau.
It was the first league start for Hernández since the 4-1 win against Cardiff City at Carrow Road in February 2024.
The opening 10 to 15 minutes were positive from Norwich with Callum Doyle threading a couple of passes through the defensive lines set up by the hosts.
The first save was made when Emi Marcondes managed to get away a right-footed shot that Anthony Patterson palmed away for a corner.
However, the resulting set-piece was a good one with Slimane firing home from close range at the second attempt after Patterson had done well to prevent his first.
A couple of trailing arms managed to find their way into the face of Borja Sainz in the first half with Luke O'Nien eventually penalised.
The Sunderland full-back would soon be booked for a push into the chest of the Spaniard.
City had shouts for a handball when Duffy's header across the face of goal was stopped by a Sunderland player but they were waved away.
The home team's best first-half chance fell to Wilson Isidor but he fluffed his lines as the assistant referee's flag went up.
It felt as though it might boil over throughout the opening 45 minutes but a series of cards five minutes before the end of it settled the sides back down again.
Early in the second half, Ballard headed Sunderland level, finding the net via the crossbar.
Ante Crnac tried to restore City's advantage with an effort from distance but would drag his shot wide.
Isidor had an opportunity to nudge Sunderland in front when he found himself clean through on Angus Gunn from the halfway line but he sent his effort over the crossbar.
He wasn't left to dwell on that miss for long however as Sunderland soon went ahead through Bellingham.
After Córdoba was shown his second yellow card, the free-kick found its way to Bellingham who turned the ball home.
With a mountain to climb for the remainder, City had to maximise any opportunity that came their way.
However, when a big chance did come, Patterson was able to get a hand to Ashley Barnes' low strike to push it on to the post.
Gunn made an excellent save to deny Eliezer Mayenda a third for Sunderland as the seven minutes of injury time wore down.
Norwich are back in action on Boxing Day when Millwall travel to Carrow Road (KO 3pm).
Sunderland: Patterson; O'Nien (Hume 67), Mepham, Ballard (Hjelde 88), Cirkin (Alese 85); Neil (C), Jobe, Rigg; Roberts, Mayenda, Isidor (Aouchiche 85).
Unused subs: Moore, Aleksic, Poveda, Connolly, Rusyn.
Goals: Ballard (47), Bellingham (72)
Bookings: O'Nien (39), Isidor (42), Mepham (49), Cirkin (57), Ballard (68)
Norwich City: Gunn; Stacey, Duffy (C) (Barnes 82), Córdoba, Doyle; Núñez, Slimane (Fisher 82), Marcondes (Chrisene 73); Crnac (Sørensen 74), Sainz, Hernández (Schwartau 69).
Unused subs: Long, Hanley, Forson, Gordon.
Goals: Slimane (21)
Bookings: Córdoba (42, 70), Doyle (53), Slimane (56), Núñez (60)
Red card: Córdoba (70)
HT: 0-1
FT: 2-1
Venue: Stadium of Light
Referee: Leigh Doughty
Attendance: 40,114