Sunderland fight back from two goals down to salvage draw

Mauricio Pochettino's men only took four minutes to take advantage of the ample time and space afforded them as Jay Rodriguez took the ball on his chest on the edge before volleying into the far corner.

Southampton continued in the ascendancy and could have been further ahead by the time they added a second on 31 minutes – with the best chance falling to Rickie Lambert but he could only pull his volley wide from inside the box with 21 minutes gone.

It looked like it could be turning into a long afternoon for Gus Poyet when Dejan Lovren evaded the attentions of Wes Brown to angle a volley into the far corner but Sunderland had halved the deficit inside a minute.

Fabio Borini timed his run perfectly to meet an Adam Johnson cross, take it on the chest and scuff past Artur Boruc, and, despite a dramatic improvement in performance from the home side, that is how the half finished.

Sunderland carried some momentum into the second half and began to see more of the ball without hugely troubling the Southampton defence, bar a disallowed Borini strike for offside.

Poyet turned to his bench to try to salvage something from the game, and the introduction of Craig Gardner and Jack Colback brought some much needed creativity and they were level with 71 gone when Adam Johnson hammered home after a quick break.

Another substitute, Steven Fletcher had the best chance as the game drew to a close but his effort was smothered by Boruc.

Having lost a two-goal lead, the Saints also lost Gaston Ramírez and Lovren to serious-looking injuries.