Sunderland delayed runaway Championship leaders Burnley's promotion charge as the Black Cats claimed a deserved point at Turf Moor. Tony Mowbray's men could easily have ended the Clarets' season-long unbeaten home run, too, with substitute Amad rattling the woodwork 20 minutes from time.
The Black Cats did have the ball in the net near the end through Jack Clarke, but his effort was correctly disallowed for offside. Nonetheless, Sunderland became only the third team to keep a clean sheet against Burnley in the league this season - and the first team to keep a clean sheet at Turf Moor in almost 12 months, with Manchester City the last team to achieve that a year ago on Sunday.
Burnley's best effort came from defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis in the first half, but Anthony Patterson kept his effort out. The point means Sunderland stay 11th in the table, at least until the rest of this weekend's games are played.
Burnley extend their lead at the top of the table to 14 points, and are now 17 points clear of third-placed Middlesbrough, leaving them eight points short of clinching automatic promotion with eight games still to play.
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Mowbray made three changes to the side that had drawn at home to Luton Town going into the international break, one of which was forced upon him through injury. Dan Ballard suffered a hamstring problem while away with Northern Ireland, and Luke O'Nien moved into central defence to replace him which meant Lynden Gooch came into the side at full-back.
The other changes saw January signing from West Ham Pierre Ekwah handed his first senior start, and Alex Pritchard come into the starting XI. They replaced Edouard Michut and Abdoullah Ba, both of whom had been away with France U19s and only returned to Wearside on Thursday.
Burnley boss Vincent Kompany made five changes to the side that lost 6-0 against Manchester City in the FA Cup going into the international break. Arijanet Muric returned in goal, with Harwood-Bellis, Josh Brownhill, Manuel Benson, and Ashley Barnes also coming into the side, while Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Ameen Al Dakhil, Vitinho, and Lyle Foster were the men to make way.
Burnley started on the front foot, dominating the ball and pressing Sunderland back for long spells. But the first half-chance fell to the Black Cats when Joe Gelhardt caught Josh Cullen in possession on the edge of the Burnley box, but the defender recovered just in time to prevent Gelhardt getting a shot away.
A Clarke cross was blocked and fell for Ekwah just outside the box, but he sliced his volley wide of the left-hand post. Patterson made a brilliant reaction save to keep the scores level just before the half-hour when a corner from the left was knocked down inside the box and Harwood-Bellis fired it goalwards, but the Sunderland keeper made an instinctive stop on his goalline to keep it out.
At the other end, Sunderland forced Muric into action when they broke forward down the right through Patrick Roberts and he cut inside before hitting a low shot which the keeper had to get down to low to his right to push round the post. And from the resulting corner, the ball was cleared only as far as Dan Neil inside the D but his first-time shot found Muric in the way and the keeper's handling was sound, with two attackers waiting for any fumble.
Burnley saw a penalty appeal waved away when Nathan Tella went down theatrically inside the box, but replays showed that referee Jarred Gillett had got the decision right with Neil pulling out of the challenge. Burnley had a big chance five minutes before the break when Brownhill hooked the ball over his head and it found Barnes unmarked, but he sent his shot narrowly over the bar.
And on the stroke of half-time, Gooch made a vital sliding block to divert a shot from Brownhill over the bar when it seemed the Burnley man must score. In the second half, a slick passing move from Burnley ended with Barnes seeing a shot half-blocked and the ball trickling through to Patterson, and a couple of minutes later Anass Zaroury fired wide from a tight angle to the left of goal.
Mowbray sent on Michut and Amad shortly after the hour and the change almost paid off within minutes as the Black Cats came within inches of taking the lead 20 minutes from time. Roberts found Amad on the edge of the box, he let the ball run across his body before hitting a shot which hit Cullen and looped over Muric, only to come back off the bar and land in the keeper's arms.
Gooch made a crucial block to deny Manuel Benson when the Belgian had a clear sight of goal. Sunderland thought they had won it five minutes from time when Clarke beat Muric with a shot with the outside of his left foot from a tight angle, but the flag went up for offside and replays showed the decision was correct with sub Ba well beyond the last defender and standing directly in front of the keeper.
How they lined up
Burnley: Muric, Roberts, Harwood-Bellis, Beyer, Maatsen, Cullen, Brownhill, Benson (Vitinho 83), Tella, Zaroury (Gudmundsson 67), Barnes (Obafemi 79). Subs not used: Peacock-Farrell, Cork, Ekdal, Twine
Booked: Cullen, Maatsen
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, O'Nien, Batth, Gooch, Neil, Ekwah (Michut 64), Roberts (Lihadji 76), Pritchard (Ba 76), Clarke (Cirkin 88), Gelhardt (Amad 64). Subs not used: Bass, Anderson
Referee: Jarred Gillett (Australia)
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