Jack Ross hails character as Sunderland come back from two goals down to salvage point at Walsall

Sunderland dominated the opening period of the game at the Banks's Stadium before losing Max Power to his third red card of the season after just 23 minutes.

Sunderland battled to half time but then fell behind to a 46th minute Josh Gordon strike, Walsall adding a second through Josh Ginnelly 52 minutes in.

The Black Cats didn't let their heads drop and fought their way back into the game, firstly through Aiden McGeady's fine finish.

Lynden Gooch then struck a superb equaliser in the 89th minute, turning before firing low past Liam Roberts in the Walsall goal, to spark wild scenes of celebration in the 3,200-strong away end.

Ross said: "That opening period of the second half was the only bit that was disappointing. We were stoic in the latter part of the first half.

"Our reaction to going two goals down was outstanding, not many teams will play that way with ten men and two goals down.

"They carried that expectation and wearing that badge today.

"The chances created, even if Lynden hadn't scored last minute I would still say the same things. There was so many good things.

"We had to play 65-70 minutes with ten men, that has a physical impact, the personnel we had on the pitch at that time wasn't really conducive to us changing shape very easily.

"There were a whole number of factors that were troublesome for us.

"The only time I could be critical is the five minutes after half time, other than that we were unbelievably good."