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 players fared in today's clash in South Wales.

© Getty Images

Goal

Lukasz Fabianski: Blameless for the goal and quite literally had nothing else to do by virtue of Swansea's dominance in the final third. (6/10)

Defence

Kyle Naughton: Had very little to do defensively, but did whip in a beautiful cross for Ki's equaliser. Plenty of good things from an attacking point of view from the ex-Spurs man. (6/10)

Federico Fernandez: One or two crucial tackles to thwart Defoe before he could pull the trigger from close range, but was perhaps turned too easily by the little forward in the build-up to the opening goal. Mixed afternoon for the Argentine. (5/10)

Ashley Williams: Not as impressive as he was against Southampton last week, but another stellar defensive display nevertheless. Although, he was never asked too many questions. (6/10)

Neil Taylor: Like Naughton, relatively untested defensively, but did get forward well and perhaps should have opened the scoring with a first-half chance. (6/10)

Midfield

Ki Sung-Yeung: Ventured forward far more in the second half, allowing Cork to sit in front of the defence, and his forays into enemy territory eventually yielded a reward when he snuck past Vergini to head home Naughton's peach of a cross. (7/10)

Jack Cork: Solid enough Swansea debut for the former Southampton man, who kept his balance on a tightrope after getting himself booked after just 15 minutes for petulantly kicking the ball away. (5/10)

Modou Barrow: Replaced at the break but would have had a couple of assists had Gomis not failed to convert the fantastic crosses that he sent into the box. (5/10)

Nathan Dyer: Did not get much joy against right-back Reveillere in the first half before switching wings after the break and running into the same issues against Van Aanholt. Not his best showing. (5/10)

Jonjo Shelvey: Gallantly tried to minimise the absence of Gylfi Sigurdsson and, despite being at the hub of everything Swansea created, just lacked the same bit of class as the Iceland international. (5/10)

Attack

Bafetimbi Gomis: Had two golden opportunities to fire Swansea ahead in the first half, but missed both and his head seemed to drop after the break. Anonymous after the interval. (4/10)

Substitutes

Jefferson Montero: Looked a little rusty in his first game after a hamstring injury, but gave Reveillere more problems than Dyer managed to. (6/10)

Nelson Oliveira: Promising cameo and forced Pantilimon into a decent save late on. (6/10)

Goal

Costel Pantilimon: Pulled off a series of crucial saves in the first half; denying both Gomis and Shelvey. Good performance from the Romanian. (6/10)

Defence

Anthony Reveillere: Coped well with the problematic Dyer in the first half, but occasionally struggled after Montero came on at the break and slotted in on the left wing. (6/10)

Santiago Vergini: Guilty of letting Ki sneak past him to head home Naughton's cross for Swansea's equaliser. It was a lapse of concentration from the Argentine and, worryingly for Sunderland, not his first this season. (5/10)

John O'Shea: Sunderland's best player on a day, with few candidates. Struggled at times with Gomis in the first half, but responded brilliantly to render the Frenchman a mere spectator after the break. (7/10)

Patrick van Aanholt: Another good defensive performance from the left-back, but could have contributed more going forward. (6/10)

Midfield

Liam Bridcutt: Did not do much wrong or right in another performance which underlines how important Lee Cattermole's return could be to Sunderland's survival prospects. (5/10)

Ricky Alvarez: Perhaps should have won a penalty early in the second half, but did not shy away from his defensive duties and could not afford to after the break when Montero came on. Good game. (7/10)

Sebastian Larsson: Sunderland might have left Wales with more than a point had Larsson's delivery been better from dead-ball situations. Not his best showing this afternoon. (4/10)

Jordi Gomez: Could have perhaps provided Defoe with better service as the striker often found himself isolated in Sunderland's attack. (5/10)

Attack

Danny Graham: Would have loved to mark his first Premier League start in 18 months with a goal at his former stomping ground, but that was never on the cards today. Applauded by both sets of fans when substituted on 70 minutes. (4/10)

Jermain Defoe: Very isolated throughout, but still managed to find a way to influence the game by opening the scoring. (6/10)

Substitutes

Adam Johnson: Little to no impact, but had not trained once in the days leading up to the game. (4/10)

Steven Fletcher: Replaced Graham but somehow managed to have less impact than the former Swansea man. (4/10)

Written by
Shane Callaghan