King Kev nets hat-trick

'We haven't been firing on all cylinders recently, but there were a lot of cylinders firing out there today.'

Following on from defeats by Leeds and Crystal Palace in the Premiership and Worthington Cup respectively, Sunderland have so far taken a maximum six-point haul from the holiday programme.

With key matches against fellow Champions League chasers Arsenal and Ipswich either side of the New Year, Reid believes there is more to come from his team.

'We haven't been playing as well as I would like,' he admitted. 'But the biggest compliment I can give the players is that we are hanging in there and digging out results.'

Reid paid his old club Everton £2.5million for Hutchison in the summer, no doubt mindful of that other Boxing Day performance.

He added: 'Hutch was simply outstanding. I'm just glad he's in our side and not the opposition's.'

Phillips, returning from a one-match ban, was so anxious to get

back into the groove that he contrived one of the misses of the season when he skied over the bar early on from three yards after Bradford were caught out by a quick free-kick involving Hutchison and Alex Rae.

That apart, he looked sharp and fresh. So did his striking partner Niall Quinn and the only surprise was that Sunderland's travelling army - squeezed in at both ends of Valley Parade in a 20,370 crowd which was Bradford's biggest for 30 years - had to wait almost until half-time for the breakthrough.

It was typical of Bradford's error-strewn first-half performance that when Michael Gray crossed from the left, neither goalkeeper Gary Walsh nor defenders Robert Mole-naar and Wayne Jacobs took responsibility as the ball dropped at the far post.

That left Quinn to hit his first effort into Walsh's body, then react with admirable reflexes to stab the rebound over the line as more than one City defender looked on in anguish.

Walsh, who was back in the side for out-of-favour Matt Clarke, had begun the game with a stunning save from Hutchison. But by the third minute of the second half he was picking the ball out of the net again when Phillips, put through by the Scotland midfielder, outstripped O'Brien before finishing in style.

Phillips repeated the agony for O'Brien as soon as the 55th minute, again courtesy of Hutchison's seasonal generosity to his team-mates.

Sunderland's blitz put a severe dent in even Bradford's famous spirit, although Robbie Blake snatched a goal back when he hooked the ball beyond Thomas Sorensen after fellow substitute Ashley Ward headed down Peter Beagrie's corner.

But Phillips still had to round off his Boxing Day exhibition. Although he left it until five minutes from the end there was a certain inevitability about the out-come when he received the ball in space from Stefan Schwarz and beat Walsh with all last season's aplomb.

Bradford's abject performance leaves them seven points adrift at the foot of the table and facing a survival fight every bit as fierce as last season's.

As manager Jim Jefferies reflected ruefully: 'We were beaten by a striker to whom you really can't give any room or space.

'We could have done with Phillips being suspended for another game.'

Jefferies will have been less droll in the dressing-room. He admitted: 'We have to improve and reach a much better standard if we're going to stay in the Premiership.'