Djibril Cisse completed a rousing comeback by Sunderland as he scored the winner in the 72nd minute to end a run of three straight league defeats that had seen his club tumble down the Barclays Premier League table.
With fit-again Kenwyne Jones getting the equaliser, the victory also gave Sunderland revenge over a Blackburn Rovers side who had delivered a knock-out punch in the Carling Cup in midweek.
Paul Ince's team dominated the first half but failed to build on making the breakthrough through Christopher Samba - and have now won only one of seven league matches at home.
They could have taken the lead as early as the second minute when Keith Andrews, who had recovered from a knee problem, headed the ball back into the path of Stephen Warnock.
The midfielder was clear on goal but failed to test goalkeeper Marton Fulop from close range, knocking his effort wide of the post.
Blackburn maintained a high tempo, and Zurab Khizanishvili saw his effort scrambled away following a corner from Morten Gamst Pedersen in the seventh minute.
When Pedersen delivered a second successive corner Santa Cruz peeled away from his marker - but his header came back off the bar.
be alert
Fulop then had to be alert in the 12th minute to turn away a superb 25-yard free-kick from Pedersen.
Sunderland launched a quick counter-attack in the 20th minute, only for goalkeeper Paul Robinson to save comfortably from Jones.
Then Steed Malbranque sent Djibril Cisse clear. He chipped the ball over Robinson but over the bar as well.
The momentum swung back to Blackburn, and Andrews dragged a shot wide from distance in the 29th minute before seeing his free-kick from the edge of the area parried at the last minute by Fulop.
Blackburn stepped up the pressure, and Roberts squared the ball to Ooijer. The Dutch defender got a good first touch, but his effort was deflected to safety in the 38th minute.
A minute later Khizanishvili delivered a free-kick to Samba, after he had moved up field to join the attack.
However, the big defender could not get enough power on his header - and Fulop, replacing injured Scotland international Craig Gordon, was able to make the save.
Blackburn's pressure paid off in stoppage time when Samba made the breakthrough, after Sunderland failed to pick him up. He powered in a header from Pedersen's corner.
Sunderland almost drew level in the 47th minute when Malbranque chipped the ball into the path of Jones.
good header
He got in a good header only to see it come off the bar, and Robinson recovered in time to take the rebound from Kieran Richardson.
But Jones was not to be denied and equalised two minutes later with a clever overhead kick, with Robinson claiming he had been impeded following Richardson's corner.
It was just the boost Sunderland were looking for, the Trinidad and Tobago striker's second goal of the week.
Jones made a surprise reappearance in the Carling Cup match following a knee ligament injury and marked his comeback by finding the target.
Then Richardson whipped in a free-kick from an acute angle in the 58th minute that Robinson did well to turn over the bar.
Sunderland went ahead in 72nd minute when Malbranque released Cisse with a cushioned header.
Robinson came out to try and narrow the angle, but Cisse got there first and chipped the ball over the goalkeeper and into the net.
Cisse went straight to the dug-out to embrace manager Roy Keane, after stunning the home side.
Blackburn almost drew level in the 87th minute through Aaron Mokoena but his effort was blocked.
