Sunderland earned a deserved point at Turf Moor with a brilliant defensive display against the Championship leaders.
The first half was an evenly matched half, with neither side making the breakthrough. The second half was a similar story with the home side having all the ball, but not enough to beat Anthony Patterson.
Tony Mowbray made a few changes to the side who drew with Luton, with even more injuries Sunderland were incredibly short on numbers. Pierre Ekwah made his first start, Luke O’Nien returned to the heart of the defence and Alex Pritchard came back in.
Burnley are the league’s best side and were looking to get closer to an immediate return to the Premier League, while the Black Cats were looking to keep faint promotion hopes alive.
The home side were dominating the ball, but Sunderland were pressing high and almost caught out Burnley as Joe Gelhardt won possession on the edge of the box and was almost in on goal, but Jordan Beyer managed to recover.
Burnley had the best and only chance in the opening 25 minutes, a corner wasn’t dealt with and after scramble fell to Taylor Harwood-Bellis but it was beaten away by Anthony Patterson.
Sunderland had a good chance of their own after Gelhardt did brilliantly to win it high up the pitch, he played it to Patrick Roberts who curled an effort from range that needed saving by Arijanet Muric.
The hosts’ chances were few and far between but Ashley Barnes found himself free in the box and had a glorious chance to open the scoring but curled it just over the bar.
Burnley were ending the half the better and some heroic defending from Lynden Gooch denied Josh Brownhill from opening the scoring.
Mowbray will have been pleased to go into the break with the scorelines level and more than held their own against the Championship leaders.
The second half was a similar story with Burnley dominating possession, and as the half went on were starting to get into a few more dangerous positions, but without a meaningful effort.
Sunderland were inches away from away taking the lead, Pritchard released Roberts who pulled it back to Amad who saw his deflected loop up and hit the bar.
The lads had defended brilliantly, a Johann Gudmundsson ball found Manuel Benson who was denied by a fantastic Gooch challenge.
Sunderland thought they had taken the lead after Jack Clarke had the ball in the net, but Abdoullah Ba was clearly interfering with the keeper and it was correctly ruled out for offside.
The lads defended magnificently all evening and became the first side since Manchester City (April 2022) to keep a clean sheet at Turf Moor.
Full Time: Burnley 0-0 Sunderland
ALS Man of the Match: Lynden Gooch
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Batth, O'Nien, Gooch, Ekwah (Michut 64’), Neil, Roberts (Lihadji 76’), Pritchard (Ba 76’), Clarke (Cirkin 88’), Gelhardt (Amad 64’)
Subs Not Used: Bass, Anderson.
