Charlie Wyke rescues point for ten-man Sunderland against Simon Grayson's Blackpool

Charlie Wyke had put his side level after Matty Virtue’s early goal, and a tight contest fizzled out after Dobson was shown a second yellow towards the end of the game.

Phil Parkinson came into the game under immense pressure with just two wins in twelve games, the tension heightened by his decision to remove Aiden McGeady from the first team group and tell him he had no future at the club.

His XI engaged in a pre-match huddle for the first time this season before kick-off, an apparent show of unity after a wretched run of form.

Charlie Wyke headed over from an early corner on his return to the starting line-up, but the Black Cats found themselves chasing the game just four minutes.

Their defending from a corner was woeful, a host of opportunities to clear missed. Matty Virtue gathered the ball on the edge of the box and his strike was exquisite, clipping an effort beyond the reach of Jon McLaughlin and into the far corner.

Simon Grayson’s side were sitting surprising deep on his return to the Stadium of Light, and after their goal they began to invite pressure from the side.

Sunderland enjoyed plenty of terrirtory and possession, though turning that into shots on goal was again an issue.

Their first real effort game when Luke O’Nien stood a cross up to the back post, where Duncan Watmore’s tame header cleared the crossbar.

If that gave some encouragement to the home support, then Sunderland were fortunate not to concede a second just moments later. In-form striker Armand Gnanduillet isolated Laurens De Bock at the back post, gathered a cross and wriggled away from the Leeds loanee with far too much ease. He should have done better with his close-range effort, though the save from McLaughlin was good.

Sunderland were struggling again to fidn shots on target, but their first effort 35 minutes in quickly yielded a crucial equaliser. Duncan Watmore broke superbly down the left, laying up Denver Hume. The wing-back, typically lively in his forays forward, crossed to the box where Chris Maguire had dropped into space. His effort was deflected over, but the forward stepped up to whip a corner into the front post, where Wyke did superbly to fire a first-time volley into the top corner.

It was a major boost for Parkinson and his side, though they ought to have gone into the break behind.

Minites after Wyke’s goal, McLaughlin palmed a cross from Liam Feeney right into the path of James Husband. His composed effort was heading into the back of the net, but remarkably, it struck Gnanduillet, stood on an offside position, on the goaline.

The second half began with little tempo, Blackpool seeing most of the ball with Sunderland largely content to sit in and absorb the pressure.

The away side produced little with the ball they did have, their only eary effort of note coming when defender Ryan Edwards brought a comfortable save from McLaughlin after meeting a flick-on from a corner at the back post.

The game began to settle into a rhythm, Sunderland increasingly seeing more of the ball and Blackpool most threatening when they broke on the counter.

The Black Cats were fortunate that Nathan Delfouneso overran the ball when breaking into the box, but the home side were inches away from taking the lead when Wyke again got ahead of his marker at a corner, thumping an effort onto the crossbar.

Lynden Gooch was brought on for his return from injury as Parkinson looked to inject some life into a fairly pedestrian contest, but his side were left with a mountain to climn when Dobson was shown a second yellow as he dove in to try and challenge Gnanduillet.

There were still fifteen minutes to play at that point and Grayson’s side almost capitalised immediately, Curtis Tilt gathering the free kick and shooting just over the bar.

Grayson threw on another striker in search of victory, though at times they were guilty of trying to force the issue, Virtue blasting over from the edge of the area after a good move.

They posed few real threats as Sunderland held on comfortably for a point.

Sunderland XI: McLaughlin; Flanagan, Ozturk, De Bock; O’Nien, Power, Dobson, Hume; Maguire (Leadbitter, 83), Watmore (Gooch, 71); Wyke (Grigg, 77)

Subs: McLaughlin, Lynch, McNulty, Burge, Leadbitter

Blackpool XI: Alnwick; Turton, Tilt, Edwards, Husband; Delfouneso (Nuttall, 80), Virtue (Thompson, 89), Spearing, Feeney; Kaikai (Scannell, 45), Gnanduillet

Subs: Bushiri, Scannell, Guy, Sims, McDonald

Bookings: Gnanduillet, 45 Flanagan, 58 Tilt, 81 Gooch, 81 Feeney, 11

Red Card: Dobson, 73

Attendance: 30,595