Liverpool threw everything they had at Macho and his defence, but a mixture of inspirational goalkeeping, sturdy defending and some large slices of luck was enough to earn Sunderland the draw.
Danny Murphy had rattled the bar in the first half through a deflected free-kick - but this was a rare time when the ball actually got past Macho.
The Austrian keeper saved brilliantly from Michael a Owen header, and also produced fine stops from Murphy in the opening 20 minutes.
Owen is clearly not at his sharpest and in the second half the diminutive England international should have done better when presented with a chance after the ball had pinged around the six-yard box.
On that occasion Owen tamely sent the ball straight to Macho, but the striker then found himself inadvertently blocking a goal-bound effort from Salif Diao.
When Owen finally did get the ball over Macho, with his head, youngster George McCartney was on hand to clear from directly under the bar - with El Hadji Diouf lurking.
Houllier made Steven Gerrard the scapegoat for the side's exit from the Champions League in midweek - but on this display there are several more players that are not showing the kind of form that pushed Liverpool to the top of the table.
Now adrift of resurgent Arsenal, Liverpool will be wondering if they can afford too many performances of this ilk if they want to sustain their challenge .
Sunderland, under Wilkinson, may not display the flair that they did in Peter Reid's early tenure, but they will be encouraged at shutting out Owen et al - even if they are playing below par.
Leeds United twice came from behind against Bolton - but still suffered an ignominious 4-2 defeat at the hands of their visitors.
With hopes of a Leeds resurgence growing, following an impressive midweek Uefa Cup win over Maccabi Haifa, the hosts were shocked when Henrik Pedersen got behind the defence to latch on to a fine Youri Djorkaeff through ball to slot home with ease.
It took just minutes for Alan Smith - with another fine performance - to level for Leeds, when he latched onto a half-cleared Harry Kewell cross to fire home.
Pedersen then hit a post before Djorkaeff gave Bolton the lead 11 minutes from time.
The Frenchman was set up by the impressive Pedersen - who touched through to allow Djorkaeff to curl delightfully past Paul Robinson in the Leeds goal.
Leeds then looked to have rescued a draw when Kewell - fed by Smith - fired a superb shot into the roof of the net.
But Bolton would not settle for an away point and took the game to Leeds.
A penalty decision gave Michael Ricketts the opportunity to give Bolton the lead for the third time in the game, and he notched with aplomb.
With the Leeds fans streaming for the exits - Pedersen grabbed a deserved second when he volleyed brilliantly home to finish off the Leeds challenge.
Blackburn Rovers have suffered a miserable week - with a convincing loss at the hands of Celtic ending their European adventure for this season - and they could not raise their morale for the visit of Everton.
David Moyes has made his side a stiff opponent for anyone, and The Toffees arrived at Ewood Park confident of forging a result.
Just 19 minutes of the game had passed when Kevin Campbell grabbed the all important goal.
Rovers had a glorious chance to level - deep in injury time - but Richard Wright was the hero - producing a fine stop to deny Andy Cole.
Birmingham City had their opportunities to forge a victory against Fulham - but only managed a 0-0 draw despite their opposition being reduced to nine men.
The Blues were given the numerical advantage when Rufus Brevett was sent off after 37 minutes for stopping the ball on the line.
Birmingham then missed the resultant penalty, and also had a goal disallowed.
Fulham then ended the match with just nine men when Steve Marlet was sent off for violent conduct with 11 minutes left on the clock.
But try as they might Birmingham could not break down the London side.
Birmingham v Fulham
Blackburn v Everton
Leeds v Bolton
Liverpool v Sunderland
