Sunderland were unable to take advantage of 10 men Southampton, as they shared the spoils at St Mary’s. Despite an 80th minute red card for saints captain José Fonte, via a last-ditch foul on striker Fabio Borini, Southampton clawed back to gain a point against Sam Allardyce’s Black Cats.
The sending off proved to be costly as Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe latched onto a pass inside the 18-yard box the box from defender Lamine Kone to break the deadlock, however, the saints proved they still had fight in them by a late Virgil Van Dijk strike in stoppage time to gain a deserved point.
Both managers will reflect back on the game as a missed opportunity to gain three vital points, but Allardyce, more so, will be going back to Wearside furious with his side that they threw away a clear win.
A defeat for Newcastle at home to Bournemouth and a loss for Norwich to Swansea means there will be no changes to the bottom four of the table. 17th place Sunderland will have to wait two weeks for their next clash, which is the Tyne-Wear derby, how crucial will that game prove?
Sunderland: Mannone, Yedlin, Kone, Kaboul, Van Aanholt, Kirchhoff (O’Shea 91′), Borini, M’Vila, Rodwell, Khazri (Larsson 76′), N’Doye (Defoe 59′)
Unused substitutes: Jones, Pickford, Toivonen, Mandron.
Southampton: Forster, Martina, Fonte, Van Dijk, Bertrand, Romeu, Clasie (Juanmi 65′), Davis (Ward-Prowse), Mane (Yoshida 83′), Tadic, Pelle.
Unused substitutes: Soares, Reed, Stekelenburg, Olomola.
Goals: Defoe (84′), Van Dijk (93′)
Bookings: Bertrand (yellow 9′), Khazri (yellow 10′), Van Dijk (yellow 31′) Fonte (red 80′)
Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Attendance: 31,458 (2,317 Sunderland).
