Hammers snatch a point at Sunderland

Sunderland 1 West Ham 1

Luckless Sunderland had two precious Barclays Premiership points snatched from their grasp as West Ham staged an outrageous comeback at the Stadium of Light.

The visitors looked to have been battered into submission by Mick McCarthy’s side, who took the lead through Tommy Miller at the end of an ordinary first half and then upped the tempo after the break.

But after threatening to win it comfortably, the Black Cats were forced to make do with a draw when Israeli international Yossi Benayoun levelled with 18 minutes remaining.

Sunderland will feel they deserved a second successive victory after dominating for much of the game – with Andy Welsh and Stephen Elliott particularly impressive.

But Hammers boss Alan Pardew was rewarded for his substitutions, with Bobby Zamora and Shaun Newton helping to change the flow of the game.

West Ham have now lost only one of their seven matches since returning to the top flight – and although it may be little consolation to McCarthy, his side is now unbeaten in three.

Sunderland started brightly against a team who finished 21 points and five places behind them in last season’s Coca-Cola Championship.

The Hammers kicked off today lying fifth in the table – but they should have been behind on Wearside with just five minutes gone.

Andy Welsh took full advantage of Thomas Repka’s slip to pick out Andy Gray in the middle after he had found a gap between central defenders Anton Ferdinand and Danny Gabbidon. But he directed a powder-puff header straight at a relieved Roy Carroll.

Within four minutes Teddy Sheringham and Benayoun combined to put Marlon Harewood in on goal, but Kelvin Davis got down well to keep out the low drive.

Yet from then on, a scrappy battle ensued in which neither side was able to retain the ball for a sustained period – and it was not until injury time that the breakthrough arrived.

Welsh was once again the instigator as he played in full-back Justin Hoyte down the left. Then when substitute Liam Lawrence – on for the injured Christian Bassila – latched on to Hoyte’s cross to force Carroll to block, Miller lashed the loose ball into the roof of the net to open the scoring.

The Hammers responded by launching a series of long balls towards Harewood and Sheringham, although neither man had any real chance of collecting any of them.

Their frustration was summed up by full-back Paul Konchesky on 50 minutes when he took aim from 40 yards but succeeded only in drilling the ball into the crowd way wide of the target.

Sheringham looked certain to level on 55 minutes when he ran on to Repka’s long ball and lifted the ball over the advancing Davis, but his effort dropped wide of the post.

Sunderland forced the visitors on to the back foot again and twice went close to extending their lead.

From a corner, the ball ended up in the back of the net off the unwitting Ferdinand – but referee Martin Atkinson had spotted an offence and ruled out the strike.

The lively Elliott carved a path through the Hammers’ defence four minutes later before firing left-footed towards goal. But Carroll blocked with his legs, and Gray could not convert the rebound – although an offside flag would have spoiled the moment anyway.

Gary Breen twice threatened with headers from corners, and Lawrence forced Carroll to save with a long-range strike. But just as it looked as though the visitors were going to finish empty-handed, they got back on terms.

A 72nd-minute attempted clearance ricocheted off Miller and fell into the path of Benayoun, who surged past the wrong-footed Black Cats’ defence and fired unerringly past the helpless Davis.

With Zamora and Newton – who had replaced Sheringham and Matthew Etherington - causing problems, the visitors might even have snatched victory at the death.

But that would have been too cruel on their hosts.