Sunderland 2-2 Aston Villa

Stephane Sessegnon scored late on as Sunderland twice came from behind to snatch a point against Aston Villa.

The visitors thought they had done enough to wrap up the win when Richard Dunne put them ahead on the 85th minute but poor defending allowed Sessegnon to claw one back moments later.
Villa travelled to the North East without an away win but came up against a Sunderland side who had lost eight of their previous 11 home games. The teams balanced each other out in the early stages with the best chance falling to former Black Cats favourite Darren Bent who was beaten to Gabriel Agbonlahor's cross by Kieran Richardson at the far post.
It was a slow start but Villa took the lead out of nothing after 20 minutes. Stiliyan Petrov scored a wonder goal at Goodison Park two weeks ago but managed to better that with a left-footed screamer from 20-yards.
It was an all too familiar feeling for Sunderland fans but their side responded well. Michael Turner saw his diving header graze the crossbar two minutes later before the lively Connor Wickham saw a header cleared off the line.
And it wasn't long before the 18-year-old forward was rewarded with a goal. He opened his Premier League account with a clinical finish from inside the box to draw his side level and they could have gone ahead before half-time when David Vaughan side-footed over from 18-yards.
Simon Mignolet was forced off with a bleeding nose in the second-half and his highly-rated replacement Keiren Westwood came to Sunderland's rescue. He denied boo-boy Bent with his legs from a one-on-one opportunity after 73 minutes and the game from then on seemed to be heading for a draw.
Dunne's glancing header from Petrov's cross put Villa ahead but Alex McLeish's side have only themselves to blame as poor marking allowed Sessegnon to head home from Sebastian Larsson's cross on the 89th minute.
The result means both sides fail to make ground on those around them in a game both will fell they could have won.