Inside the encouraging draw that highlighted three key challenges for Sunderland and Tony Mowbray

For the first time, Sunderland’s frenetic, exciting and largely end-to-end return to the Championship fizzled out into something a bit more mundane.

Which is not to say that Tony Mowbray’s side played badly, because they absolutely did not. Or that there weren’t passages of play that nudged you to the edge of your set, because they absolutely were.

Or that the youngsters who so thrillingly turned the tide at Vicarage Road look in anyway less exciting than they did then. Amad, Jewison Bennette and Abdoullah Ba again came on and played with bravery and speed, but this time the final ball just wasn’t quite there for anyone.

Mowbray’s verdict can pretty much be surmised as: Sometimes, it happens.

What this afternoon did demonstrate is three of the challenges Mowbray and his side face moving forward, two in the immediate future and the third a little further into the distance.

Mowbray has made clear that he won’t get hung up on the lack of recognised strikers in his squad, that he won’t use it as an excuse when his side don’t win. He has insisted that he has the options within his squad to score goals and that it’s his task to make that happen.

Two shots on target suggests that it was a struggle to create chances on this occasion but that’s only partly true. Sunderland actually played their way into the final third with relative ease and particularly through the latter stages of the first half, their neat, one-touch passing moves were a joy to behold.

What they lacked was the final ball and a little bit of luck. Where Patrick Roberts had found the bottom corner with his first two shots at Reading, here his efforts dipped just wide time and time again. He was one of many who looked a threat every time he picked up possession.

On another day, Mowbray fairly noted, one of these efforts drops in and then the game opens up and then Sunderland have the space on the break in which they so thrive.

Still, it was hard not to reflect that it was a game that could have delivered all three points with a player of Ross Stewart’s instinct. Right now crossing from deep essentially isn’t an option for Sunderland, and too often they get into a promising area out wide but don’t have that player bursting into the six-yard box. Elliot Embleton was the false nine here and got into some promising areas, but as Mowbray has said before you can’t change the habits of players who instinctively come deep to the ball overnight. Sometimes that movement and rotation makes the opposition dizzy and pulls apart their defensive shape; and sometimes it leaves you with no one to get on the end of the cross.

Sunderland remain a real threat, but what they don’t have while Stewart and Ellis Simms are unavailable is variety. Amad looks to be a wonderfully talented footballer, but he also likes to drift into space and link up play. When Sunderland get it right it is hard to defend against, but in the month of October you suspect there may be one or two more days like this.

The absence of Stewart and Simms also denies Sunderland two of their best defenders in set piece situations and that was another reason this point was not one to be underestimated. In the end Preston did have the clearest chances, all of them from set pieces where they enjoyed a massive physical advantage. One goal line clearance from Aji Alese was genuinely outstanding, instinctively dropping to the back post and flicking away a powerful effort first time. That Mowbray has spoken regularly about defending set plays in recent weeks tells you it’s something that plays on his mind regularly - his other key short-term challenge as he navigates a demanding month or so before the World Cup.

What we also saw very clearly here is that something has shifted in Sunderland’s status and perception. Preston pressed aggressively to begin with but for the most part they then dropped off, happy to try and snap into challenges near their own box and break from there.

They were happy to take time out of the game, and focused heavily on set pieces for their attacking game. Afterwards Lowe said he felt his side deserved to win but praised a ‘fantastic’ Sunderland side, insisting that it was a point well earned and that not many will leave the Stadium of Light with three this season.

In the opening weeks of the campaign, there were times when you felt Sundnerland were catching their opponent cold. Perhaps there was an expectation that facing a promoted side should mean three points, or perhaps there just simply wasn’t an understanding of how potent the Black Cats could be. Now there will be a recognition that you have to try and deny Roberts, Clarke et al space and time and it means we might well see more games like this one.

And that’s OK: It means Sunderland have proven themselves to be a Championship quality side.

So far all this felt frustrating, there was also much to take from it. Aji Alese’s continuing rise, how comfortable Dan Neil now looks in the second tier… And above all else the feeling that before long one of these intricate moves is going to come off again and 40,000 are going to lift the roof of this place again.

The contrast with the last time these two sides met at the Stadium of Light could hardly be starker.