David Moyes’ search for a first Premier League win in charge of Sunderland continues but Patrick van Aanholt’s late goal rescued a welcome 1-1 draw at home to West Brom on Saturday.
Sunderland looked destined to suffer a sixth league defeat of the season after Nacer Chadli’s first-half effort gave West Brom the lead, but Van Aanholt – a second-half substitute – saved the hosts with seven minutes to go.
Jermain Defoe’s terrible early miss set the tone for Sunderland’s wasteful first-half display, with Chadli capping off a swift breakaway to open the scoring 10 minutes before the break.
Sunderland’s desperation forced them to pour men forward towards the end and Defoe saw another chance go begging.
However, the hosts’ persistence paid off late on when Van Aanholt struck to secure Sunderland a morale-boosting second point of the season.
In the build-up, Moyes put Sunderland’s run of three successive home defeats down to “nerves and anxiety” and Defoe did little to prove his manager wrong in the fourth minute.
The striker latched on to Duncan Watmore’s intricate pass into the centre of the area only to inexplicably drag a shot wide of the target from 12 yards when one-on-one with Ben Foster.
Both sides exchanged blows without causing any significant damage in the following 20 minutes but the hosts did go close again just before the half-hour mark, with Foster doing well to hold on to Lamine Kone’s header following a Wahbi Khazri corner.
And West Brom made the most of those let-offs by edging ahead 10 minutes before the break.
Matt Phillips spotted the run of Chadli and found the Belgian with a well-placed through ball, the midfielder then applying a fine finish across Jordan Pickford and into the bottom-right corner.
Sunderland received a further blow early in the second half when Jan Kirchhoff was forced off on a stretcher after appearing to pick up a hamstring problem. Van Aanholt was his replacement.
And West Brom nearly compounded their misery with an hour on the clock. Darren Fletcher forced Pickford into a save from 25 yards before Claudio Yacob scuffed wide after collecting the rebound.
Sunderland began to up their intensity shortly after and should have levelled 20 minutes from time, but Jonny Evans made a crucial block to deny Defoe in the middle of the area.
The home side were not to be denied in the 83rd minute, though, as Van Aanholt arrived to meet Watmore’s cut-back and scuffed an effort past Foster to rescue a late draw.
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