Jack Rodwell saw red as Sunderland could not get past their lower ranked opponents Fulham in the 4th round of the FA Cup.
Both teams were really flat in the opening period with Fulham probably edging things despite their lower league status. They had the first real decent chance of the game in the 20th minute when Bryan Ruiz bent one low left footed from the edge of the box, which Vito Mannone saved well low to his right.
The hosts only real chance came ten minutes before half time when Sebastian Larsson found himself in a lot of space on the right side of the box and produced a low shot which Fulham keeper Bettinelli decided to kick away from danger.
A sole bright spark for Sunderland was striker Jermain Defoe who was making his home debut and forced numerous saves out of Bettinelli, mainly with shots from distance as the 5 3 2 formation did not really provide him with any service in the game.
Sunderland's job was made a lot harder midway through the second half when Jack Rodwell was given his second booking and had to leave the field. He could have been sent off for his first booking when he went lunging into a challenge, but he did see red as foolishly tried to jump up and stop the keeper throwing the ball out.
This invited Fulham to be a bit more adventurous and they were in the final quarter of the game and so nearly won it just five minutes from time when substitute Hugo Rodallega hammered the ball against the right post from the edge of the box.