On this day in 2012, Sunderland took on Liverpool at the Stadium of Light, playing out a hard-fought 1-1 draw in the Premier League near the start of a season that would see us finish seventeenth in the table, with Liverpool finishing seventh for the second season running.
It was a strange start to a season during which our game at home against Reading had been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Torrential rain on the Saturday left the pitch unplayable, so we went into this Gameweek Four fixture
having played a game less than everyone else. Whereas, in the rearranged fixture in December, we would win 3-0, this – our third game of the season – would end in a third draw following points away at both Arsenal and Swansea.
The Liverpool side that started the game included some very capable players such as Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling and Fabio Borini. Borini had been signed from Roma and was eventually loaned and then transferred to Sunderland.
A 17:30 kick-off in front of nearly 42,000 on Wearside began with Martin O’Neill setting up in a fairly defensive manner and the Lads looking reasonably comfortable. Despite this, there were a couple of scares, most notably a save by Simon Mignolet from Borini following a poor defensive header by Carlos Cuellar.
Mignolet came to the rescue again a few minutes later when Suarez laid off to Borini again, with the goalkeeper making a good parry from the Italian’s first-time shot. For the most part, however, Sunderland held Liverpool at arm’s length for most of the half.
Sunderland went ahead in the 29th minute when Steven Fletcher netted following our first real attack.
A superb run from Craig Gardner was capped off with a cool side-footed finish from Fletcher, who was making his home debut. A frustrated Liverpool finished the half having had most of the possession but not having the end product to go with it – Suarez was booked for diving over John O’Shea’s leg to cap off their first 45 minutes in style.
The second half saw Liverpool start to turn the screw and produce a number of chances, with Glen Johnson hitting the bar and Raheem Sterling causing a lot of problems with balls into the box.
Eventually, the pressure told and, in the 71st minute, Suarez equalised at the second attempt, having scuffed his first effort at Titus Bramble following another good cross from the right by Sterling. Jonjo Shelvey then squandered a late chance to win it for the Reds, leaving both teams without a win from the opening games.
Although Sunderland were unbeaten, Liverpool had been beaten at West Brom, drawn at home to Manchester City and also lost at Anfield to Arsenal.
After the game, O’Neill said that he felt Sunderland had had their best spell during the second half despite Liverpool having a number of chances to score, and that a point was well deserved.
Brendan Rodgers in the Liverpool dugout, meanwhile, felt that Sunderland would be happier to come out of the game with a point than they were, and that his team had been creative and their performance was outstanding.
