An injury-time penalty denied Sunderland a third successive win as Bristol City left Wearside with a point. The Black Cats led through Jack Clarke's goal on the hour - his ninth of the season in all competitions - and looked on course for victory, with Tony Mowbray's men also creating opportunities to extend their lead.
But Bristol City put them under heavy pressure in the dying stages and finally made it count two minutes into added time, when Trai Hume hauled sub Jay Dasilva down inside the area which saw the Robins awarded their first penalty since November 2021. Anthony Patterson had saved a penalty in midweek at QPR but could not repeat the trick, as sub Nakhi Wells converted from the spot to give his side a point they probably deserved over the entire 90 minutes.
Sunderland had dropped to sixth following Millwall's win against Sheffield United in the early kick-off, but the draw meant they moved back up to fifth. Mowbray's men have now lost just one of their last ten Championship games, while the Robins are unbeaten in eight.
READ MORE: Sunderland 1-1 Bristol City: Highlights and reaction from the Stadium of Light
Mowbray reversed the three changes he had made to the side for the midweek win at QPR, with Dan Neil and Edouard Michut returning in midfield in place of Luke O'Nien and Alex Pritchard, while Amad was back in the starting XI instead of Abdoullah Ba. Mowbray had also changed system to 4-4-2 at Loftus Road, but reverted to his preferred 4-2-3-1 shape against the Robins.
Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson made two changes, in his case to the side that drew 1-1 at home to relegation strugglers Wigan Athletic on Wednesday night. Mark Sykes and Sam Bell came into the side, with Andreas Weimann and Harry Cornick dropping to the bench.
The visitors offered more of a threat in the early exchanges and Sunderland struggled to make any impact going forward. Bristol's Joe Williams dragged a shot well wide from 25 yards before they were forced into an unplanned change when defender Rob Atkinson appeared to twist his knee and was replaced by Tomas Kalas.
Bristol's best chance of the half came just before the midway point of the first period when Sykes' ball found Anis Mehmeti inside the area on the left and he cut onto his right foot before hitting a low shot which the diving Patterson did brilliantly to push onto the inside of his left-hand post, with the ball then rebounding across the face of goal and out for a corner on the opposite side. Sunderland got better as the half wore on and almost broke through when Michut's eye-of-a-needle pass released Amad through the middle but he just could not take the ball in his stride and was crowded out by a couple of defenders.
Ten minutes before half-time, Clarke burst into the area down the left and squared for Joe Gelhardt eight yards out but he could not make proper contact and only managed to divert the ball well wide of the right-hand post when he should have scored. Sunderland had a let-off right at the start of the second half when Mehmeti fizzed a low cross across the face of a crowded penalty area but somehow the ball evaded everyone.
And at the other end, a low cross from Patrick Roberts was just too far in front of Gelhardt. Sunderland went in front on 59 minutes with their first shot on target.
A neat exchange in midfield between Roberts and Gelhardt then saw the latter release Clarke on the left, he cut inside his marker and into the penalty area on his right foot and lash his finish beyond Max O'Leary high into the right side of the net. Sunderland almost added a second when Clarke's cross found Roberts at the far post and he brought it under control but just could not get the ball out of his feet to get a meaningful shot away.
And they had another chance to give themselves a two-goal cushion when Amad did well inside the box to set up a shooting chance for Roberts on the penalty spot, but O'Leary got down well to his left to push the ball away. O'Leary saved again from Roberts, this time a long-range effort.
In the closing stages, Bristol City threw everything at Sunderland and the Black Cats had to dig in to repel wave after wave of attacks. But two minutes into injury-time, Dasilva got past Hume out on the left and the defender dragged him down inside the penalty area leaving referee Gavin Ward with an easy decision. and Wells' spot-kick beat Patterson and found the bottom left-hand corner.
How they lined up
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, Batth, Alese, Neil, Michut (O'Nien 59), Roberts (Ekwah 86), Amad, Clarke (Cirkin 86), Gelhardt (Pritchard 59). Subs not used: Bass, Ba, Lihadji
Booked: O'Nien
Bristol City: O'Leary, Tanner (Cornick 70), Vyner, Atkinson (Kalas 16), Pring, James, Williams (Dasilva 87), Sykes, Scott, Mehmeti (Weimann 70), Bell (Wells 71). Subs not used: Haikin, King
Referee: Gavin Ward (Surrey)
Attendance: 38,685
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