Sunderland 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur: Late Kane own goal secures dramatic point for the Black Cats

Spurs dominated the game but a plucky home side gained a 2-2 draw thanks to goals from Adam Johnson and an own goal from substitute Harry Kane. The visitors twice lead with strikes from Nacer Chadli and Christian Eriksen.

The away side started brightly with Vito Mannone having to make an early save from Danny Rose. The Italian’s resistance did not last long however, as Emmanuel Adebayor found space on the edge of the area and, with Mannone failed to deal with his shot convincingly, Chadli pounced on the rebound and opened the scoring after only two minutes.

The travelling fans were, more than likely, still celebrating when Sunderland responded well to the early setback and equalised. Patrick van Aanholt surged forward and fed the ball into the box, Johnson managed to get the ball and his deflected shot buried into the net to draw the match level four minutes in.

Mannone then produced two fine saves to deny Adebayor and Chadli. The ferocious start to the game had ebbed but just before the break, Moussa Dembele unleashed a thunderbolt which crashed off the crossbar with the keeper merely a spectator. Half-time came as a welcome break to Sunderland who just couldn’t get the ball off an impressive Spurs.

The second half started much the same as the first, the hosts failed to clear a Danny Rose giving Eriksen the chance to slide in and put Tottenham back in the lead. Gus Poyet’s men again responded, this time with lots of crosses and set-pieces firing into the box but the luminous yellow-kitted visitors rode the storm and exerted their influence again.

Erik Lamela then became the second Spurs player to hit the woodwork as his well-struck effort smacked off the bar.

Substitutes Emanuele Giaccherini, Will Buckley and Jordi Gomez added pace and impetus to the struggling hosts and their efforts were eventually rewarded. With eight minutes remaining Gomez’ whipped freekick was put into his own net by a despairing Kane despite the best efforts of Hugo Lloris.

After that, such is the crazy nature of the Premier League, the hosts looked more like nicking a very late winner with the momentum and the roaring fans behind them.

Van Aanholt produced another attacking run and his cut-back was narrowly put over by Buckley.

So Poyet takes a fortunate point off his old club and he will be pleased with the fighting spirit, which came into fruition towards the end of last season, his side showed to get an unlikely point.