Sunderland 2-2 Watford: Dennis Cirkin nabs late point for Black Cats

Dennis Cirkin made amends for giving away a first-half penalty with a last-gasp equaliser to rescue a 2-2 draw for Sunderland at home to Watford in the Championship.

The Black Cats took an early lead thanks to Luke O'Nien but looked set to suffer their first home defeat of the season after Tom Dele-Bashiru's penalty and a stunning effort from Imran Louza in the first minute of the second half.

Cirkin had gifted Watford their leveller with a needless foul on striker Mamadou Doumbia late in the first half, but the left-back made up for that mistake when he bundled in Enzo Le Fee's corner in the 89th minute.

Sunderland then had two glorious chances to win it in stoppage time, but Watford's debutant goalkeeper Egil Selvik denied Wilson Isidor and Le Fee.

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The draw left Regis Le Bris' promotion hopefuls fourth in the table.

Watford at least halted their slide after three successive defeats, but under-pressure boss Tom Cleverley will be frustrated to have lost two points late on. His side have now won just one of their last nine and have only been victorious three times on the road this season.

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Buoyed by their thrilling victory at Middlesbrough last time out, Sunderland were first to threaten, with impressive January signing Le Fee unsurprisingly involved. He started the move that led to Chris Rigg's low shot from inside the box being saved by Selvik.

Le Fee had a hand in Sunderland's well-worked opener in the 16th minute.

The Frenchman's corner was met by Trai Hume at the back post and O'Nien was on hand to nod in his first goal since the second weekend of the season.

Sunderland were not at their best in the first half and gifted Watford their leveller two minutes before the break.

Anthony Patterson initially made a brilliant save to keep out Doumbia's close-range header, but the striker was then needlessly fouled by Cirkin inside the box as he chased down the loose ball. It was a blatant penalty and Dele-Bashiru made no mistake from the spot.

Having been pegged back late in the first half, Sunderland were stunned less than 60 seconds after the restart when Louza fired the visitors in front with a superb goal.

Edo Kayembe powered through three Sunderland players before touching the ball back to Louza, who took a touch to steady himself and then curled a beautiful shot into the top corner from 30 yards out.

Sunderland struggled to create openings and looked set for defeat until Cirkin met Le Fee's corner from the left at the death.

The Black Cats then pushed for a stoppage-time winner but were twice denied by Selvik.

The managers

Sunderland's Regis Le Bris:

"I'm a bit disappointed. We started well and we finished well. It wasn't really a surprise the challenge we faced today because we knew before the game that this team was very powerful, with many players with high pace.

"I think probably it suits perfectly our weaknesses. We are well organised, but we are not as powerful and so in one-v-one we were dominated. After the second goal we decided to play with our strength. It was more positive because it is not easy to change the dynamic of the game.

"Our subs helped, they brought some energy. At the end we had good chances to win. We knew this would not be an easy challenge, they are a good team with strong individuals. We were able to change the dynamic at the end.

"These two opportunities at the end we can be disappointed with. You can struggle in a game, but at the end, if you are clinical, then you can win."

Watford's Tom Cleverley:

"I thought for 60, 65 minutes we were excellent. We didn't create too many chances but felt a sense of control and we frustrated the home support. But I'm really disappointed we didn't manage the last 10 minutes of the game better. We really are better than that at managing games.

"We were nowhere near good enough in the last 10 minutes. Things can get clouded a little bit because they had the best chances of the game late on. But I don't want to get caught up in the negatives even though we've lost two points.

"We feel like there's a few things going against us, but it fuelled us to play like we did for 80 minutes today.

"There was some schoolboy stuff at the end which I'm disappointed about, but that's an easy problem for me to fix as a coach. The general performance was really pleasing. I can fix the last 10 minutes, but it still hurts."

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