Sunderland earned a hard-fought point in their bid to avoid relegation by holding Swansea City to a 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon.
Jermain Defoe grabbed his second goal in as many games to fire the Black Cats into 1-0 half-time lead.
Ki Sung-yeung headed home an equaliser on 67 minutes but, despite dominating the remainder of the game, Swansea failed in their efforts to find a winner.
Here, Sports Mole analyses how the game was won in South Wales.
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Match statistics
SWANSEA CITY
Shots: 13
On target: 7
Possession: 60%
Corners: 7
Fouls: 11
SUNDERLAND
Shots: 3
On target: 1
Possession: 40%
Corners: 1
Fouls: 13
Was the result fair?
It would have been difficult to argue that Swansea did not deserve a victory had they snatched all three points, because the above statistics speak for themselves. By the same token, it would have been harsh to begrudge Sunderland what was a hard-fought point on a difficult ground.
Despite dominating from the first minute to the last, the Swans just did not do enough to earn a win here. They were far and away the better team, but the visiting defence restricted them to very few goalscoring opportunities, particularly in the second half, and Sunderland can make the long trip back to the North East proud of their labour.
Swansea's performance
Garry Monk, celebrating one year in charge of Swansea, will not have been overly pleased by what he saw from his side in a first half that City dominated and yet still trailed at the break. The Swans produced some fantastic football in the opening 45 minutes, which will have satisfied Monk, but it counted for little when the man charged with finishing off the fluent team moves, Bafetimbi Gomis, spurned the opportunities.
For all of their potency in the attacking areas of the field, the hosts were susceptible to counter-attacks and that is how they fell behind on 43 minutes. Unperturbed, Swansea continued on in the same vein after the break and deservedly equalised through Ki on 67 minutes.
Did they build on that goal? No. It should have re-energised them in their hunt for a second, but they never asked the same questions of the visiting back four after drawing level. Sunderland became far more defensive, making it harder to snatch a winner, but Monk will still be disappointed that his troops did not do more after equalising.
Sunderland's performance
The Black Cats spent much of the first 45 minutes on the back foot and would have fallen behind on a number of occasions if not for Gomis's profligacy, but Gus Poyet's side also showed how dangerous they can be on the counter and that led to their opening goal. Moments after Ki had a goal correctly ruled out for offside, Sunderland broke down the other end and Defoe was allowed to run from the halfway line unchallenged, before stroking past Lukasz Fabianski from just outside the box.
It was a sucker-punch, but it did not pack enough power to knock out the Welsh side, who came back stronger in the second half and ultimately bagged a deserved equaliser when Ki snuck in behind the suspect Santiago Vergini. Unsurprisingly, the Black Cats effectively settled for a point from that moment onwards, but they would not have earned their draw without a stoic effort from their back four.
Sports Mole's man of the match
John O'Shea: In a game like this, it was always going to be a defender who deserved man of the match, and it was the big Irishman this afternoon. If Swansea ran out of ideas in the second half it was due to O'Shea.
Biggest gaffe
Gomis should have fired Swansea ahead on 34 minutes with what would have been a brilliant team goal. The Frenchman looked certain to tap home Modou Barrow's first-time cross, but he slid with his right foot instead of his left and missed the target from six yards out.
Referee performance
With six bookings in total, it would be fair to say that it was a relatively feisty encounter, but Phil Dowd made the right call every time that he brandished the yellow card. There was one contentious moment when Ricky Alvarez went down in the box following a challenge by Ashley Williams, but, other than that, Dowd had a good game.
What next?
Swansea: City travel away to West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday night.
Sunderland: Poyet's side are back in action on Tuesday when they host fellow strugglers Queens Park Rangers at the Stadium of Light.
Shane Callaghan
