Bent dents McCarthy’s title hopes

Ipswich 2 Sunderland 2

Sunderland looked set to move five points clear at the top of the Championship when Carl Robinson fired the Black Cats into a 2-1 lead six minutes from time, but Bent salvaged a draw a minute from time.

It was tough luck on the Black Cats, who had earlier missed a penalty from Marcus Stewart and fallen behind to Richard Naylor’s 66th-minute strike. But Stephen Elliott hauled them level before the action really burst to life in the dramatic closing stages.

Said McCarthy: “Last week was the time to worry when we played well against Reading but lost, and knew we had a visit to Ipswich to come. But why panic? We have been playing well.”

“We have a disappointed dressing room because we had enough chances to have won. We didn’t finish them off. But my players deserve a lot of credit for coming to Ipswich in a real pressure game and playing as well as they did.”

Ipswich almost grabbed a win through Ian Westlake during the five minutes added, but Ingham brought off a reflex save.

McCarthy had special praise for goalkeeper Ingham. “He has been told he can leave the club and finds himself in a match that could be worth millions of pounds.

“I was delighted with the job he did overall. He only played because Ben Alnwick has suffered a bereavement, and I didn’t think it was fair to select him.”

IPSWICH: Davis, Wilnis, De Vos, Naylor, Unsworth, Miller, Horlock (Magilton 76), Currie (Counago 82), Westlake, Kuqi, Bent.

SUNDERLAND: Ingham, Wright, Breen, Caldwell, McCartney, Lawrence (Thornton 76), Whitehead, Robinson, Arca, Stewart (Elliott 69), Brown (Deane 69).

Referee: S Bennett (Kent).