The Black Cats, who had lost their past three Championship matches, defended solidly to keep Norwich at bay.

It meant the Canaries missed their chance to regain a top-six place, while Sunderland climb to 10th.

Ba, making only his fourth start for Sunderland, was one of three changes to the line-up that lost 5-1 at home to Stoke a week ago, with both Amad Diallo and Alex Pritchard missing out due to injury.

Norwich had the better of the opening exchanges, with Teemu Pukki threatening several times and Max Aarons unleashing a drive that was clawed behind by Black Cats goalkeeper Anthony Patterson.

Yet it was the visitors who went ahead in the 15th minute, with Gelhardt picking out Ba, who worked his way into position on the edge of the box and struck a low left-foot finish beyond the diving Angus Gunn.

Ba's goal rocked the Canaries, who struggled to respond and almost conceded a second soon afterwards when Gelhardt found himself in space but bundled the chance straight at Gunn.

Norwich boss David Wagner made several changes early in the second half, including the return of Josh Sargent, who had netted the only goal in his side's win at the Stadium of Light earlier in the season.

However, the home side were unable to ask any serious questions of Patterson, who held a routine header from Grant Hanley and also kept out Pukki's volley without much difficulty.

It was Sunderland who went closest to changing the scoreline when Jack Clarke's ferocious drive thudded off Gunn's chest and bounced loose, but Gelhardt was unable to capitalise on the rebound.

The visitors had five players booked as they dug in during the closing stages, surviving six added minutes to seal the win that lifts them to within five points of the play-off positions and three behind their seventh-placed opponents.

Norwich head coach David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk:

"The performance was disappointing, especially in the first half. We were too slow in moving and passing, we were sloppy and we didn't look focused.

"We were not able to get the intensity and energy on the grass and this is why we deserved to be 1-0 down.

"The second half was better, without creating enough clear-cut chances. We haven't used the width well enough, we tried to go centrally too often and maybe we rushed it a little bit because we wanted to correct what we'd done in the first half.

"It's a setback for sure but it's up to us to take it on the chin, speak honestly about what went wrong and make sure we recover."

Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"We knew how the game was going to go and the team worked really hard. When a team tries to pass through you, you have to be set up to play the way we did today.

"Of course we had to dig in, because Norwich are a good team and they pushed us back, but we got the job done. I'm pleased for the supporters who made a really long trip.

"Hopefully this young team can keep pushing on. We've got 52 points and we're not looking over our shoulders.

"We've got 10 games to go and the ones we lose, put them in the bin. The ones we win, let's see how many points we can accrue and where that takes us."