For the first time this season, Sunderland really pushed a top-five side all the way, creating enough chances against Chelsea on Saturday to gain at least a point.

Top sport stories
- Furious Keane: End these lies.
- O'Donovan's plea to Keane.
- Terry: SAFC striker simply the best.
- Nosworthy: We must be positive.
- Latest transfer rumours.
- Premier League highlights.


And it was no surprise when they were applauded from the field of play, seconds after Dean Whitehead's injury-time snapshot had fizzed just the wrong side of Carlo Cudicini's post.

Had that gone in, it would have brought an equaliser which would have seen Sunderland leapfrog both Newcastle United and Reading in the table.

But the bottom line is that a second consecutive home defeat leaves the Wearsiders vulnerable to dropping into the bottom three this week.

A more pressing statistic is the fact that it is now more than six-and-a-half hours since Sunderland last scored a goal and, in Saturday's match, a lack of clinical finishing cost them dearly.

In recent matches, creating chances has been the problem for Sunderland, but that changed – even against opponents as formidable as Chelsea – thanks to a midfield which had Andy Reid improving in fitness, Dean Whitehead regaining his sharpness and, most importantly, Carlos Edwards restored to the side for the first time since breaking his leg against Derby at the start of December.

The right-winger added a balance to the side which has been sadly lacking in his absence and it was Sunderland who created the first real chance when striker Roy O'Donovan – given a rare start as reward for training ground industry – burst into the box in the sixth minute and was sneakily pulled down from behind by John Terry.

Claims for a penalty appeal were waved away by referee Mike Dean, but replays clearly showed that a foul had been committed on the Sunderland man.

How that might have changed the game is interesting to speculate, but Sunderland never had the chance to sit on a 1-0 lead – for in the ninth minute, they were behind to what was to prove the only goal of the game.

Nyron Nosworthy put the ball out for a corner when it seemed he had scope to fire it out for a throw-in and from Frank Lampard's inswinging corner from the left, Chelsea skipper John Terry left Kenwyne Jones for dead, raced to the near post and glanced home his first goal in more than a year.

The goal marked a period of Chelsea dominance which showcased their superior pace, movement and technique.

Even before the goal, Phil Bardsley had been called upon to make a brilliant challenge from a marauding Saloman Kalou on the edge of the Sunderland area and, in the minutes that followed Terry's header, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba both tried their luck from range.

Chelsea's football was a delight to watch at times, but it was a pity their approach to the spirit of the game didn't match up.

Just like the first time the teams met this season, Chelsea behaved like Sunderland had no right to tackle or challenge them.

Cudicini ludicrously over-reacted to a challenge from O'Donovan; Joe Cole flew into a huff with Whitehead over a nothing tackle and early in the second half Drogba fell over with such embarrassing theatricalness when he made contact with the Sunderland skipper that the crowd burst out laughing and the striker had the good grace to sheepishly pick himself up and carry on.

That was the downside of the Blues, but there was no denying the quality of their play, particularly in defence, and it's certainly not a coincidence that they've managed seven clean sheets in their last 10 away games.

The closest Sunderland came to breaking through in the first half was in the 27th minute when John Obi Mikel fouled Jones and from 20 yards, on the right of goal, Reid chipped the free-kick over the wall and forced Cudicini into a spectacular save, diving high to his left to claw the ball away from his top corner.

It was honours even from then up until the break with Sunderland creating half-chances for O'Donovan and Jones, while, on the stroke of half-time, the eye-catching Lampard burst through and brought a fine one-handed save from Craig Gordon.

In the second half, though, Sunderland upped their efforts further, with Chelsea content to sit on their lead and look to pick off the Black Cats on the break.

Grant Leadbitter produced a fine shot in the 52nd minute when he took hold of a half-clearance from Joe Cole and arrowed a surgical strike towards the top right-hand corner of Cudicini's goal only for the Italian to mark his 100th appearance for the club with another fine save.

Leadbitter then curled in the resulting corner from the left and Danny Collins rose on the back of Terry but could not direct his header on target at the far post.

Collins, like every one of his fellow defenders, made outstanding tackles, but arguably the pick of those challenges came just after the hour when Nosworthy thundered unstoppably in on a loose ball being contested by Ballack on the edge of the Sunderland area before setting up Reid on a run up the left flank.

Keane brought on Rade Prica for Edwards just after the hour – the winger having got invaluable match practice under his belt – but the game really turned in Sunderland's favour with the introduction of Dwight Yorke with just over 15 minutes remaining.

The veteran was making his 450th English league appearance and, coincidentally, his 50th for Sunderland and he rolled back the years with some vintage play which brought both composure and attacking threat to the hosts' play.

Within minutes of getting on, he wafted a perfectly-weighted 40-yard ball on to the head of Jones just outside the six-yard box.

The quality of the cross seemed to surprise the striker so much that all he could do was head tamely into the gloves of Cudicini – not so much an attempt on goal as a back-pass.

Remarkably, he was given another bite of the cherry a minute before full-time with Yorke once again finding him with a brilliant delivery from distance.

This opportunity was a little further out but was an even better chance, given that Jones was facing goal. But his header flew a yard over the bar.

That was the best opportunity in an open-ended conclusion to the game which saw chances for both sides – Prica heading narrowly wide, substitute Shaun Wright Phillips being denied in a one-on-one with Gordon and then Whitehead with his last gasp effort which came so close to producing a fairytale finish for the Wearsiders.

The win kept up Chelsea's outstanding recent record against Sunderland for this was their third successive double over the Black Cats and their seventh win on the trot in this fixture, in which the Londoners have conceded only two goals.

But Sunderland can be pleased with the spirit and resolve shown by their players and there's no doubt that players still returning from injury – Reid, O'Donovan and Edwards – will be sharper for the game.

The reality is that Sunderland's Premier League fate won't be decided by games like this, nor even the one against Aston Villa this weekend, but by the sequence of five matches which follows on from that, against sides either struggling for form or in the bottom half of the table.

With Edwards now back in harness to link up attacks and Reid posing a threat from set-pieces, Sunderland should have a real fighting chance of getting the points they need to avoid the tightening noose at the bottom of the table.