The last time these two sides met, journalists were struggling to squeeze all the incidents in Sunderland's 7-1 thrashing into their reports.

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This time it was the opposite.

The first 45 minutes yesterday was pretty much excitement-free and best forgotten.

The second half – Andy Johnson's 54th-minute goal and a late flurry from Sunderland apart – was largely the same.

You had to feel a crowd of more than 42,000 deserved more for their admission money and yet, despite the lack of flowing football,
Sunderland's passionate fans would gladly have settled for a bore draw which would have taken them above Newcastle United in the table.

It was not to be, though.

Not for the first time in recent weeks, Sunderland rarely posed an attacking threat and now that Jonny Evans and Phil Bardsley have helped tighten the Wearsiders' defence, Roy Keane must turn his attention to what he can do to spark them into life in attack.

Maybe the 4-5-1 formation might now come under scrutiny. Maybe not.
For this was Keane on a learning curve.

Having admitted that one of his mistakes at Goodison Park in that awful defeat was being too gung-ho in chasing the game, he set his stall out to be solid yesterday – get a draw, or nick it, but don't go in with caution thrown to the wind and risk another hammering.

It almost worked too, so it's unlikely that the manager will throw the game plan out of the window with Chelsea coming to visit this weekend.
But it didn't make for the most entertaining viewing.

The game got off to a slow start – possibly the quietest quarter-of-an-hour of the Black Cats season – before the first sign of goalmouth action when Mikel Arteta lofted a corner from the left to the far post and Phil Jagielka nodded into Craig Gordon's gloves.

Sunderland were not seen as an attacking force until midway through the first half and even then Everton keeper Tim Howard was not called upon to make a save.

The Black Cats' first effort on goal did not arrive until the 33rd minute and even then it was a shinned shot by Dean Whitehead which failed to trouble the visitors' defence.

Sunderland had made three changes to the side which drew with Derby County the previous week.

Michael Chopra and Andy Reid dropped down to the bench to be replaced by Anthony Stokes and Grant Leadbitter in midfield, while Danny Collins returned from suspension to replace Danny Higginbotham at left-back.

Kenwyne Jones played as a lone striker with Daryl Murphy and Stokes, on the flanks, asked to get forward at every opportunity, but it never paid off and too often Jones was left stranded 20 yards away from his nearest team-mate.

There was more action in the last five minutes of the first half then there had been in the preceding 40 but it was all in Everton's favour – the Toffeemen winning three successive corners, all taken from the right by Arteta.

Everton only threatened from the final one but came desperately close to scoring with it – Sunderland's arch-nemesis, Tim Cahill, rising to glance a header goalwards from 12 yards out which Stokes on the goal-line steered on to Gordon's right-hand post before Andy Johnson headed over the rebound.

Sunderland started the second-half with an immediate substitution – Chopra replacing Stokes.

"Tactical", said Keane, and the tactics seemed to work, for Sunderland upped their performance, threatening a couple of times and forcing Cahill into a rash challenge on Phil Bardsley which earned him a booking.

But just when it looked as though Sunderland were getting on top, Everton scored.

Collins gave the ball away cheaply in the left-back position and the resulting cross went straight through the area where Arteta picked it up and crossed to the near post.

Cahill and Johnson challenged for it together in a bundle of bodies and the ball seemed to come off the top of Johnson's arm and roll past Gordon to give the visitors their vital goal.

"It wasn't the formation which cost us; it was sloppy play," pointed out Keane afterwards, while also noting: "I'm less concerned about the ball coming off a player's arm than I was about the cheapness with which we gave the ball away initially."

For the next 10 minutes all was frustration for Sunderland, but they finally got a sight of goal in the 66th minute when Leadbitter played in Kieran Richardson on the right of goal only for the midfielder to fire wide when well-placed.

Keane brought on Andy Reid for the ineffectual Murphy, much to the crowd's satisfaction – Murphy had deservedly won Match of the Day's Goal of the Month competition the previous day but was a world away from that sort of form yesterday.

Reid's display was initially just as indifferent, but, on the stroke of full-time, he came as close as anyone to creating an equaliser, taking a superb free-kick from 30 yards out which Everton keeper Tim Howard stretched athletically to tip over his crossbar.

That was the highlight of a spirited surge by Sunderland at the death.
Chopra had a shot charged down in the 76th minute, substitute Rade Prica got a header on goal four minutes later, Jones drove a shot wide from 25 yards and Prica missed the target, too, with a snapshot on the turn before Reid's fine effort.

Howard is one of the most in-form keepers in the division and chasing for the Premier League's golden gloves award for clean sheets.
Yesterday was his 13th, unluckily for Sunderland.

Yet, when the dust settles, Keane is likely to feel that progress has
been made by himself and his team since the last time the two sides met back in November.

Sunderland gave Everton a good game – a dull one admittedly but a real contest nevertheless – and the fact that there was only one goal in it, is likely to give Keane heart with Chelsea coming up this weekend.

The Black Cats need to look for every positive this week for it could not be closer at the bottom.

These top teams are incredibly tough to beat, but, as Barnsley showed against Chelsea on Saturday, it can be done.