Sunderland 1 Wigan Athletic 1

Feb 7 2010 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

Instead, the Black Cats stepped up a gear and on the hour, Michael Turner glanced a right-wing cross from Henderson just wide of the left-hand post when he should have scored.

Almost immediately, at the other end, Rodallega created a chance for N’Zogbia but the former Newcastle United man fluffed his shot with the goal at his mercy.

And Sunderland made Wigan pay as they got back on level terms in the 64th minute.

Henderson crossed from the right flank and Jones got up above another former Newcastle man, Titus Bramble, at the near post to direct his header down and into the bottom left corner.

The goal lifted Sunderland and Bent fired just wide a couple of minutes later after good work down the right from Hutton.

Sunderland suffered a big blow soon after when Henderson was stretchered off with a nasty ankle ligament injury, as he was caught by a defender’s follow-through as he cleared the ball.

But the Black Cats almost nicked the win in injury-time when Kirkland kept out a header from Jones, and Bent’s follow-up shot hit his strikepartner on the leg when on another day it might have found the net.

SUNDERLAND

Goals
Jones 64mins

Bookings
McCartney 44mins (foul), Cattermole (76 foul), Jones (85 foul), Cana (90 foul)

WIGAN ATHLETIC

Goals
Diame 20mins

Bookings
Figueroa (43 foul), N’Zogbia (59 dissent), Rodallega (78 foul), McCarthy (80 foul), Caldwell (90 time wasting)

The moment
Gordon’s save from McCarthy on the hour – at 2-0, it would have been game over for Sunderland

The hero
Kenwyne Jones was a threat all afternoon and fully deserved his goal

The villian
Has to be Cana for giving the ball away cheaply and letting Diame in for the opener. He did the same in the second-half, too, but that time Sunderland got away with it

The verdict
Sunderland were awful in the first half and the atmosphere around the stadium was like a morgue. They improved massively after half-time and, once they equalised, looked by far the more likely side to win. But when you’re trying to put distance between yourself and the drop zone, a point isn’t enough