Premier League: Sunderland 1 Newcastle 1

An unfortunate Demba Ba own goal ended Newcastle United’s resistance as Sunderland claimed a 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.

Yohan Cabaye had given the visitors the lead in the third minute before Cheick Tiote was sent off for a challenge on Steven Fletcher midway through the first half of the English Premier League clash.

Sunderland struggled to carve out goalscoring opportunities but took advantage of one of several set-piece situations to save a point after John O’Shea’s header deflected off Ba with five minutes remaining.

The tackling was snappy and the pressing frantic from the first whistle of the Tyne-Wear derby.

When James McClean slipped to leave a Danny Rose pass loose, Hatem Ben Arfa accelerated down the right flank into the space vacated by the left-back.

Ba’s shot from a tight angle was saved by Simon Mignolet but the goalkeeper could only push the ball into the path of Cabaye, who calmly fired into the bottom corner.

Sunderland were not without promising breaks of their own in the opening stages but found themselves frustrated by Newcastle’s stubborn defending.

There was a restlessness emerging in the stands but just as the early flames of the derby seemed to have been fanned, they were reignited by a controversial refereeing decision.

Tiote saw red for a careless – if not particularly vicious – challenge which drew a somewhat dramatic reaction from Fletcher.

Referee Martin Atkinson had initially blown for a foul on the Ivorian, who was perhaps unlucky to be given his marching orders.

Martin O’Neill’s team were not nearly as fluent as they would have hoped but improved thereafter with the man advantage.

Adam Johnson curled a difficult shot narrowly wide before Craig Gardner’s free-kick fizzed past the post and Alan Pardew had seen enough to decide the introduction of James Perch to replace Tiote in midfield was necessary.

Any half-time pep talk O’Neill might have delivered failed to immediately pay off after the break as Sunderland, despite controlling the ball, badly lacked ideas in the opposition half.

It was Newcastle’s penchant for conceding cheap free-kicks which proved to be their downfall.

Fabricio Coloccini was withdrawn having only recently returned from injury and it took Sunderland less than five minutes to take advantage of the absence of the Argentine, who had turned in a colossal performance.

Sebastian Larsson sent the dead ball into the box from just inside the Newcastle half and O’Shea’s header deflected off Ba to leave Tim Krul stranded, ending the visitors’ resistance.