Jermain Defoe's goal at the end of the first half has given Sunderland a 1-0 half-time lead away at Swansea City this afternoon.
Bafetimbi Gomis almost opened the scoring after 10 minutes, but his thumping volley from Jonjo Shelvey's cut-back whistled just wide of the upright.
© Getty Images
Jordi Gomez then saw his powerful strike fly wide of the post at the other end in a brief foray forward from Sunderland, but Swansea continued to show their dominance.
First Shelvey saw his scuffed strike roll agonisingly wide, before Nathan Dyer wasted a good opportunity and then Shelvey tested Costel Pantilimon with an arrowed strike from 30 yards.
Gomis was then presented with a good chance as he burst onto a through-ball inside the box, only to be smothered by the quick-thinking Pantilimon who came off his line to deny the forward.
A few moments later, the French forward was gifted a better opportunity from Dyer's low cross, but he couldn't divert his effort on target as he slid in to connect with the ball.
Five minutes before the break, Ki Sung-yueng wheeled away celebrating what he thought was the opener after tapping home a free kick, but the linesman's flag cut short his celebrations.
Despite peppering the Sunderland goal, Swansea went into the interval a goal down after Defoe beat two men before lashing a low drive into the bottom corner three minutes before the break.
Kristian Johnson
