The £9m former Chelsea winger struck five minutes after the break and then again eight minutes later as City eased to victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland could hardly have made the England international any more welcome as he sought to relaunch his career with City, the club where he first came to prominence.

Stephen Ireland had fired the visitors ahead in first-half injury-time, but a largely bemused crowd of 39,622 saw Roy Keane's expensively assembled squad wilt alarmingly after the break.

City made light of their midweek UEFA Cup exertions in Denmark to run out comfortable winners.

The Black Cats - despite the presence of Djibril Cisse, El-Hadji Diouf and Steed Malbranque in the starting line-up - lacked inspiration, organisation and any real goal threat.

Sunderland had started their home campaign with an unfortunate 1-0 defeat by Liverpool, but bounced back in style with victory over Tottenham.

And with Anton Ferdinand becoming the club's ninth summer signing this week, hopes were high for a first home win of the campaign.

Ferdinand was presented on the pitch at half-time, but by the time the whistle had sounded to bring an end to the opening 45 minutes there was already concern and anger in the stands.

Much of the anger was directed at referee Chris Foy, who appeared to miss a series of fouls, two of which left Malbranque and Grant Leadbitter writhing in agony, and had Keane venting his fury on the fourth official.

Concern surrounded the lack of genuine chances Sunderland created, and the way they allowed Michael Johnson to unlock their defence to fashion a stoppage-time goal for Ireland.

Sunderland had the better of the opening exchanges, with Leadbitter twice going close. He had been preferred in central midfield to captain Dean Whitehead, who did not even make the bench.

Leadbitter fired just wide after seven minutes, and then sent a dipping free-kick inches over Joe Hart's crossbar.

Cisse, on his home debut, was a peripheral figure for much of the half, but glanced a header straight at Hart eight minutes before the break.

In a flurry of activity which annoyed the home team, their manager and their fans, Malbranque was left in a heap by Richard Dunne and Leadbitter was bodychecked by Vincent Kompany, who had already been booked. On both occasions there was no response from referee Foy.

But City gradually found their game, and Kompany had a well-struck shot blocked by Andy Reid.

They took the lead when Danny Collins could only stab Johnson's cross into the path of Ireland, who calmly slotted past Craig Gordon.

City were forced to make a half-time change when Micah Richards, who had limped away from a good challenge on Diouf before the break, failed to re-appear and was replaced by Tal Ben-Haim.

They could have extended their lead within two minutes when a shot from Johnson looped up off Nyron Nosworthy and found Jo, but the South American completely missed his kick.

Jo was only inches away from meeting Wright-Phillips' driven cross ahead of Gordon seconds later as the visitors made a real push, but the reprieve was only temporary.

With 50 minutes gone, Johnson picked out Jo on the left edge of the penalty area, and when he drilled the ball across goal, Wright-Phillips made the most of some poor marking to sidefoot the ball into the empty net.

Sunderland's efforts to get themselves back into the game were laboured, and they were rendered fruitless with 58 minutes gone when Wright-Phillips ran on to Michael Ball's pass over the top and flicked a shot past the advancing Gordon.

Keane's response was to send on three strikers - David Healy, Anthony Stokes and Daryl Murphy - for Cisse, Diouf and Leadbitter, but the cause looked a forlorn one.

Hart was a virtual spectator as his defenders managed to mop up what little the Black Cats threw at them with ease as time ran down.

Indeed, City might have increased their lead with 12 minutes remaining when Vedran Corluka squared for Ireland, but he lifted his shot high over the bar.

Wright-Phillips was warmly applauded as he left the pitch to be replaced by Elano five minutes from time as City boss Mark Hughes started to celebrate a comprehensive victory over former Manchester United team-mate Keane.