Sunderland and Crystal Palace played out a scrappy goalless draw in their Premier League relegation battle at the Stadium of Light this afternoon.
Neither side enjoyed a real chance until the 84th minute, when Fabio Borini finally found space and slammed an effort against the post.
The visitors' first clear opening of the game came five minutes later when Cameron Jerome teed up Kagisho Dikgacoi, but he failed to hit the target from a good position.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at a nervy encounter on Wearside.
Match statistics
Sunderland
Shots: 19
On target: 2
Possession: 65%
Corners: 6
Fouls: 16
Crystal Palace
Shots: 12
On target: 5
Possession: 35%
Corners: 2
Fouls: 14
Was the result fair?
Yes. Sunderland may argue that they deserved the win today and, if anyone did, it was certainly the Black Cats, but in truth neither side did enough to warrant all three points. The game lacked quality as a whole and, while Sunderland started well and controlled the first half, they failed to use that dominance to threaten the Palace goal. The referee was the busiest man on the park this afternoon and it felt like there were an awful lot more than 30 fouls during the game. The fact that the first clear chance of the match came in the 84th minute speaks volumes and, while both teams had an opportunity to nick a victory in the closing stages, it never felt like there would be a goal in today's game.
Sunderland's performance
A chorus of boos greeted the final whistle after Sunderland had failed to break down the opposition, putting in a very average display overall. They began the match really well and seemed to have a good urgency about themselves in the attacking third, but they soon ran out of ideas and became too predictable. The stats show that the Black Cats saw plenty of the ball, but to only have two shots on target from 19 attempts overall and 65% possession goes some way to explaining why the home fans were so frustrated at the final whistle. They did come closest when Borini hit the post and then flashed another shot narrowly wide moments later, but that was really the only time that they looked remotely like scoring. A draw is not a terrible result and their destiny is still in their own hands, but with a tough run of away fixtures coming up, they need to improve at home.
Crystal Palace's performance
If manager Tony Pulis came into the match with a gameplan to come away with a goalless draw, he executed it to perfection. It was far from pretty, but then Pulis has never worried about his style being aesthetically pleasing. Palace's plan was effective more than anything else and, while that came at a cost to the quality of the game, the boss won't mind too much as his side earned what could be a valuable point as well as keeping a clean sheet. Credit does have to go to the Palace defence for their stubborn performance throughout, keeping the Sunderland attack at bay, but once again they failed to score, leaving themselves still with just 19 league goals in 30 games this season.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Fabio Borini: It is very hard to give one player the man of the match award in this match because no individual impressed more than the rest. The Palace defence worked well as a unit, but there were no standout performances from anyone. Borini is the man who gets it for the simple fact that he looked more likely to break the deadlock than any other player. He came close with a couple of efforts before hitting the post late on, while his curling shot moments after that was only a whisker away.
Biggest gaffe
This one goes to Vito Mannone, who almost completely embarrassed himself in the first half when he tripped over a piece of turf as the ball was played back to him. It could have been one of the most memorable howlers in Premier League history had he missed the ball as a result, but he did well to get some sort of clearance on it before recovering in time to stop Glenn Murray's subsequent long-range effort.
Referee performance
Neil Swarbrick was the busiest man on the park this afternoon. While he had no huge decision to make, the scrappy nature of the game meant that he was forced to blow his whistle far more often than he would have liked. His job was not made easier by players asking for a card after every foul, but he brought some of that upon himself having shown two soft yellows in the opening stages. Overall, he just about managed to keep tempers from boiling over, but it was certainly not the easiest game he will officiate this season.
What next?
Sunderland: Next up for the Black Cats is an away trip to Carrow Road to face Norwich City next Saturday.
Crystal Palace: Palace, meanwhile, are on the road again as well, returning to the North-East to take on Newcastle United.
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