John O’Shea heaped praise on Patrick van Aanholt and Duncan Watmore after the pair combined to earn a point against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
The Black Cats trailed 1-0 after Nacer Chadli turned the burners on in the 35th minute and calmly found the bottom corner after racing clear of Lamine Kone.
David Moyes’ side rallied back and while Jermain Defoe saw a guilt-edge chance blocked, van Aanholt made no mistake from a similar position as he drilled his effort into the ground and then over Ben Foster to set up a tense finale at the Stadium of Light.
Speaking to safc.com skipper O’Shea highlighted the attitude of his team-mates as a pleasing aspect and talked up the ability of Sunderland’s match-saving duo.
"Whenever you go behind in the Premier League you are giving yourself an uphill task again, but we started so well in the game and we were hoping to give everyone a boost around the stadium,” he said.
“The attitude from the off and right through the game was fantastic and on another day we would’ve taken the lead.
“We got the goal to get back into the game, there was a good attitude from Patrick when he came on and he got the goal. It wasn’t the cleanest of strikes but it was a really important one.
"Duncan's energy is very important for us in the team at the minute and that is going to be crucial for us going forward.
“A lot of the lads feed on it and the positive energy he has around the place, not just on the pitch. He is a fantastic lad and he is going to go from strength to strength.”
