Sunderland came from a goal behind to secure a point against Wigan at the SOL on Saturday. Kenwyne Jones’ second half header cancelled out Mohamed Diame’s first half wonder strike and although this was the second stalemate in a week at least this game was a bit more entertaining. It was far from a convincing display from the lads but as on Monday at least the commitment and grit is there which does offer some hope for the remainder of the season.

Steve Bruce made two changes to the side that drew with Stoke on Monday night with Jordan Henderson replacing Steed Malbranque and Alan Hutton made his debut at the expense of the injured John Mensah.

With both sides out of form the edgy opening was to be expected but Sunderland had the first effort on goal when after good work by Hutton on the right wing Darren Bent spun his marker to fire straight at Kirkland.

As on Monday night Sunderland looked short of confidence and resorted to pumping balls forward to Jones which Wigan dealt with quite comfortably. Wigan fired a warning shot as Scharner found himself unmarked of the edge of the area the defence had been carved open but the Austrians shot was sliced wide. Wigan took the lead after sloppy play by Cana gifted possession to Diame who got his head down powered into the box and blasted an unstoppable shot past Gordon into the top corner.

The goal further knocked Sunderland’s confidence and even the quality of the hoofs forward from Turner and Kilgallon started to suffer and go straight into touch. It was like Monday night all over again with quality in very short supply and no one looking to get the ball down, pass and move.

Sunderland’s best effort of the first half came from Kenwyne Jones who used his strength and skill to go past three or four defenders before pulling the trigger. The shot took a deflection which beat Chris Kirkland but the ball spun off the outside of the post and out for a corner. It’s the type of thing what earlier in the season would have dropped into the net but as we know when you’re down the league these things tend to happen.

The half time whistle was greeted with boos but to be fair the fans stuck with the side second half and got right behind the team again.

We thought we’d equalised when Bent raced onto Jones’ through ball and rounded Kirkland but the flag was up for offside. Then Turner got onto Jordan Henderson’s cross but his glancing header just beat the post. Wigan should have doubled their lead after a comedy of errors by Cana, Turner and Kilgallon allowed McCarthy a sight of goal but Craig Gordon did brilliantly to deny him.

Jones finally equalised with a great header getting onto the end of Henderson’s pinpoint cross. It was a well worked goal with Hutton and Henderson combining with a neat one two before the youngster’s cross. Moments later with Wigan stretched Jones was unmarked again in the box but this time the cross from the left by Reid was headed to safety by Titus Bramble.

In between all this Stuart Atwell went a bit card happy booking loads of players and then worryingly Jordan Henderson was stretchered off with what looks like a bad injury. He didn’t seem to be challenged by anyone and sometimes a twist when no one is near you can be very serious but hopefully he is back sooner rather than later as one of the things I love about him is that when he gets into a good position his crosses nine times out of ten are excellent.

We pressed for a winner with Zenden who had replaced Henderson scuffing a shot and then Kirkland did well to deny Bents shot on the turn after a scramble in the six yard box following a corner. With a few minutes of the ninety to go Benjani made his debut replacing Reid and in the seven minutes of injury time he showed he is quick and strong with decent feet.

Despite the seven minutes of added time due to Henderson’s injury we couldn’t find a winner and to be honest based on the first half performance a draw was a fair result.

Final Score: Sunderland 1 Wigan Athletic 1

ALS Man of the Match: George McCartney. Foul throw apart he was excellent

Aidan Crowe

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