Sunderland 1 Wigan Athletic 1
Stu Vose

Kenwyne Jones rescued a vital point for Sunderland as he headed home a second-half equaliser against Wigan.

Jones climbed highest to power in his seventh goal of the season just as it began to look as if Sunderland's luck in front of goal was out once more.

Momo Diame had given his side the lead midway through the first half with a strike of real quality after winning possession in midfield.

The home side recovered from a disappointing first half to create more scoring chances in the second and they could even have won it late on.

Darren Bent was unlucky to have an equaliser ruled out for offside before strike partner Jones struck to secure his side's second successive home draw.

New signing Alan Hutton debuted for Sunderland, whose winless run continued after they couldn't capitalise on late pressure.

The hosts had the first chance of the game through top scorer Bent, who received a neat pass from Alan Hutton and warmed Chris Kirkland's gloves with a low drive from an acute angle.

But Wigan soon stamped their authority on the game and should have taken the lead when Paul Scharner was presented with a golden chance by James McCarthy from just inside the box. Scharner, though, completely missed his kick and the opportunity was gone.

And they went ahead through a finish of real quality on the 20-minute mark. Lorik Cana gave the ball away to Diame, who knocked the ball through Matt Kilgallon's legs and fired an unstoppable shot high beyond Craig Gordon and into the roof of the net from the right of goal.

It was a hammer blow for Sunderland, who were being continually frustrated by their opponents and struggling to get the ball forward effectively.

However, they were desperately unlucky not to equalise on the half-hour. Jones' mazy run took him past three defenders and his low shot beat Kirkland, but a nick off a defender altered the ball's path and it struck the outside of the far post.

The first half ended with chances at either end as first Lee Cattermole raced from deep to force Kirkland to tip his long-range drive over, before goalscorer Diame almost doubled his side's lead.

A corner was half-cleared straight to the midfielder, who connected cleanly with an overhead kick only for Gordon, diving to his left, to get across well and palm the ball to a defender and away from danger.

The Black Cats upped the ante at the start of the second period, having a Bent goal chalked off due to a marginal offside decision just five minutes after the restart.

Still, Wigan remained a potent threat and Gordon was forced to pull off an excellent save with his legs to stop a point-blank effort from McCarthy which likely would have settled the game in the visitors' favour.

It was a case of punch and counter-punch, with Sunderland coming within inches of equalising through Turner, whose header from a Jordan Henderson skidded inches wide of the far post, while Charles N'Zogbia should have turned the ball home when set up by Hugo Rodallega.

Gary Caldwell headed over for Wigan from a corner - but Sunderland pushed forward again and finally bagged the equaliser they craved with 26 minutes to play.

The impressive Hutton gave Henderson the angle to tee up a cross, and his delivery was dispatched clinically at the near post by Jones, leaving Kirkland with no chance.

With crowd and players alike boosted, Bent fired a Hutton feed wide, but Sunderland suffered a blow soon afterwards as Henderson crumpled after challenging for the ball and was stretchered for the field in some pain.

Bent headed wide as Sunderland pressed, and new loan signing Benjani was introduced for the final three minutes plus stoppage time as the Black Cats went for broke.

Seven minutes of added time were announced - and there was late drama as Jones couldn't force a cross home and Bent's shot was blocked on the follow-up.

But the home side couldn't push on and were forced to settle for a fifth home draw of the season ahead of a crucial midweek trip to Portsmouth.

Sunderland: Gordon, Hutton, McCartney, Turner, Kilgallon, Reid (Benjani, 87), Henderson (Zenden, 70), Cana (C), Cattermole, Bent, Jones.

Subs Not Used: Fulop, Bardsley, Da Silva, Campbell, Malbranque.

Booked: McCartney (44), Cattermole (76), Jones (85), Cana (90).

Sent Off: None.

Wigan: Kirkland, Caldwell, Thomas, Scharner, N'Zogbia (Moreno, 75), Boyce, Bramble (C), Rodallega (Moses, 83), McCarthy, Diame, Figueroa.

Subs Not Used: Scotland, Gomez, Sinclair, Melchiot, Stojkovic.

Booked: Figueroa (43), N'Zogbia (59), Rodallega (78), McCarthy (80), Caldwell (90).

Sent Off: None.