Sunderland held at Britannia

Sunderland are still searching for their
first Premier League away win after
they were held to a hard-fought 0-0
draw by Stoke.
Martin O'Neill's men twice appealed
for a penalty in the second half, but
Stoke could have snatched it in the
dying stages as Peter Crouch was
denied by Simon Mignolet.
Both sides struggled to settle at a
blustery Britannia and Michael Kightly
spurned an early opening for Stoke
with a mishit cross, while Sunderland's
Craig Gardner could not pick out Jack
Colback with a low centre.
The Potters' prowess from set-pieces is
no secret and Mignolet was forced to
punch away Charlie Adam's curling
free-kick before he got down well to
save Ryan Shawcross' follow up effort.
Kightly tried to add spark to Stoke with
a run and shot that was headed
behind by Carlos Cuellar and the
Sunderland defender was soon in
action at the other end, nodding wide
from Sebastian Larsson's free-kick.
The Black Cats were coping well with
the hosts' aerial threat and Mignolet
again elected to punch clear when
Adam's cross took a wicked deflection.
Stoke soon suffered a setback in the
second half as Marc Wilson was
stretchered off with a nasty looking
injury and their reshuffled defence was
almost breached when Adam Johnson
fired narrowly over from long-range.
Sunderland were playing with more
attacking purpose and they appealed in
vain for a penalty when Colback
crashed into Shawcross in the box.
But the Black Cats were given brief
cause for concern when Geoff
Cameron broke into the box and
picked out Adam, who failed to trouble
Mignolet with a chipped effort.
A scrappy contest finally came to life in
the closing stages and Sunderland's
shouts for a spot-kick were again
shunned by referee Mark Halsey after
Stephen Fletcher's drive hit Huth's arm.
It was then Stoke's turn to push for a
breakthrough as Huth's close-range
header drew a reaction save from
Mignolet.
And the Potters nearly pinched it in
stoppage-time when Mignolet rushed
out to claw the ball away from Crouch
before Kightly scuffed wide.