Premiership: Phillips' equaliser ears Sunderland a point

Sunderland 1 Fulham 1

Kevin Phillips scored the equaliser for Sunderland, as they drew 1-1 against Fulham.

The England striker expertly rounded Edwin van der Sar on 66 minutes to drag the home side back into a game.

Steed Malbranque had fired the Londoners into a 15th-minute lead to reward their early dominance. But the Wearsiders eventually staged a rousing comeback, and it was they who looked the more likely winners as time ran down.

Peter Reid went into the game with the result of a poll conducted by a fans' website professing little confidence in him. He brought veteran striker Niall Quinn back to partner Phillips in attack and handed the experienced Stefan Schwarz a recall in midfield. Tigana recalled goalkeeper van der Saar, John Collins, Sylvain Legwinski and Steve Marlet - with Maik Taylor, Sean Davis, Luis Boa Morte and Louis Saha making way.

Barry Hayles should have put the Londoners in front with less than two minutes gone after he outstripped the home defence to collect Steve Finnan's pass - but he could not beat Thomas Sorensen.

His side had to wait just 15 minutes more for the opening goal, Malbranque skipping away from Schwarz, Bernt Haas and Stanislav Varga before driving a shot across Sorensen and into the top corner.

The Dane was grateful for the assistance of the crossbar on 34 minutes when Zat Knight rose above the crowd to get his head to Malbranque's corner.

Sunderland's Gavin McCann and Jason McAteer then squandered golden opportunities to equalise.

In the second half, Quinn was unfortunate to see a well-struck volley cannon into Finnan, and Phillips warmed van der Sar's hands with a powerful volley after Knight's back-pass hit Alain Goma and fell into his path.

The equaliser eventually came when Schwarz's pass allowed Phillips to race clear and round van der Sar with before slotting into the empty net.

From that point on, there looked to be only one winner - Phillips firing inches wide two minutes later and then hammering a volley at point-blank range into Legwinski.

As the Wearsiders committed men to attack in the hunt for victory, Fulham used their pace on the break to threaten. But Marlet wasted a glorious chance nine minutes from time when he went clear on the left and cut inside only to fire high over the bar.