Sunderland 0, Stoke City 0

Feb 2 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

That was the only clear cut chance of the first half an hour as both sides were guilty of squandering possession whenever they got into a promising position, although Steed Malbranque should have done better than slice his shot wide after Lorik Cana had stolen the ball on the edge of the Stoke area.

The winger, restored to the starting line up after a torrid afternoon in the 7-2 thrashing at Chelsea, also forced a decent save from Sorensen, although the shot lacked the necessary power to really trouble the goalkeeper.

With Jones the target for some typically close marking from Stoke’s defence – particularly when he was held at set-pieces – Sunderland saw a lot of the ball but never looked like doing anything with it as the moans and groans grew within the ranks of the home support.

In fact, the most exciting thing to happen was a clash between Whitehead and Cattermole, with the former lucky to escape a red card for a spiteful kick at the back of the legs as he ran into the back of his opponent.

It was an important half-time team talk for Bruce, but while nobody could fault the effort on show, the lack of quality was dismal and once again Stoke came close to scoring early in the half when Danny Higginbotham’s cross was somehow prevented from being turned in by Mamady Sidibe inside the six-yard box.

However, if that was a let-off it was nothing compared to Stoke’s lucky escape, as Huth inexplicably got away with controlling the ball between forearm and chest as Darren Bent went past him. It was a blatant penalty, but when you are stuck in a rut those always tend to be the incident the officials fail to see.

And it could have been even worse, Ricardo Fuller galloping into the area only for Scotland international Gordon to make a good save before Huth headed narrowly wide in the final minute.