Sunderland and Swansea City battled to an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light as the home side recovered from two consecutive defeats to register their first point of the season.
It took until the 45th minute of a feisty first half for the deadlock to be broken. Taking advantage of some lapse defending from Patrick van Aanholt, Kyle Naughton slid in Bafetimbi Gomis who slotted past Costel Pantilimon in the Sunderland goal to put the Welsh side 1-0 up.
Sunderland had to soak up some early pressure from the Swans before pulling back level in the second period. The excellent Jeremain Lens played the ball to Jermaine Defoe who took on the defender before beating Lukasz Fabianski.
Sunderland continued to press ahead after the equaliser yet had Pantilimon to thank after the goalkeeper pulled off an incredible save to deny Gomis his second goal of the afternoon after he met Jefferson Montero’s cross with a header. Both sides continued to press but were unable to take advantage and the game ended 1-1.
Sunderland
Costel Pantilimon – 7: The 6’8″ goalkeeper was equal to almost everything that Swansea City threw at him as well as keeping Sunderland in it with a world-class save to deny Gomis.
Billy Jones – 6: The Sunderland right-back coped reasonably well with the threat of Montero in the first half. Found himself beaten by the Ecuadorian more often in the second half.
Sebastian Coates – 6: Fought well to prevent Gomis from having a bigger impact on the game. Was unable to stop the Frenchman from putting the Welsh side in front, however.
John O’Shea – 7: Drafted in for Younes Kaboul and added much needed stability to the Sunderland back line. Gave a real leader’s performance as he found himself equal to Gomis.
Patrick van Aanholt – 5: Found himself wanting once again defensively.
Lee Cattermole – 7: Acted well as a shield for the Sunderland back four with tough tackling preventing Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jack Cork from gaining a solid hold on the game.
Jeremain Lens – 9: Man of the match on the day as his trickery, pace, and movement posed a sustained threat to the Swansea back four. Supplied a neat pass for Defoe for the equaliser.
Yann M’Vila – 5: Did not exert too much of a noteworthy influence on the game.
Jack Rodwell – 6: Connected defence with attack reasonably well at stages throughout the afternoon. Went missing on several occasions throughout the 90 minutes.
Jermain Defoe – 7: As somewhat of a makeshift winger, Defoe did well to offer width for Sunderland and brought pace and movement for his equalising goal.
Danny Graham – 6: Acted as a target man for the Sunderland attacks. Had the chance to score off an overhead kick but was not really given the service needed to net a goal himself.
Substitutes
Steven Fletcher – 4: Came on in the 67th minute. Was not present on the pitch long enough to have any reasonable impact on the game. Offered a similar target to Graham.
Duncan Watmore – N/A: Came on in the 86th minute. Had one little run down the right-hand-side which came to nothing.
Sebastian Larsson – N/A: Came on in the 90th minute to take a free kick which ultimately hit the wall and came to nothing.
Swansea City
Lukasz Fabianski – 5: Did not have a lot to do during the game but was unable to thwart Defoe’s effort which brought Sunderland level.
Kyle Naughton – 6: Offered an attacking outlet for Sunderland, often getting forward. Supplied the exquisite pass which led to Gomis’ goal but struggled when coming up against Lens.
Federico Fernandez – 5: Played reasonably well when required to. Did not have much to deal with throughout the 90 minutes.
Ashley Williams – 7: The Swansea skipper did well to thwart Graham. Was dragged out of position by him for the Sunderland goal, however.
Neil Taylor – 5: Did not offer a lot going forward and struggled with the movement and pace of Lens when coming up against him.
Jack Cork – 6: Connected well with Jonjo Shelvey and made an attempt to kickstart Swansea attacks.
Jonjo Shelvey – 7: Continued to impress as he dictated the play in the middle of the park for the Swans, linking play between the defence and the attack well.
André Ayew – 8: Maintained his impressive start to Premier League life as he connected well with Gomis. Was unfortunate to see his header bounce off of the post.
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 5: Disappointed overall as he was unable to have any sort of noteworthy impact on the game.
Jefferson Montero – 7: Struggled to leave an imprint on the first half. Came into the game in the second half as he used his trickery and pace to torment the Sunderland defence. Provided the cross which led to the incredible save from Pantilimon.
Bafetimbi Gomis – 7: Continued his impressive start to the season with another goal. Was not given the service he would have wanted which forced him to drop deep to collect the ball. Was unlucky not to score a second goal when his header drew a save for Pantilimon.
Substitutes
Eder – N/A: Came on in the 76th minute but did not get into the game at all.
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