Phil Smith's Sunderland AFC verdict: Assessing Michael Beale's key claim and both side's play-off prospects

This was not the easiest game to assess but of one thing there was no doubt: This was a very solid point for Sunderland.

On the back of the win against Stoke City it has kept them firmly in the race for the top six and all of sudden, out of all that acrimony and fear of a campaign unravelling, opportunity really does knock for Michael Beale. Four points from six and three home games out of the next four, those opponents currently sitting 15th, 21st, 19th and 17th in the table. To take a strong set of results for granted would be reckless in the extreme given Sunderland’s occasional struggles against bottom-half sides this season, but the chance to really kick on is there. 

This could, as Beale rightly said afterwards, prove to be a big point in the context of the campaign and particularly as it stopped Middlesbrough moving level on points with the Black Cats. 

It seems fair to say that this was a better result than it was a performance, though Beale rejected any notion afterwards that his side were fortunate to come away with a point. There was some credence to that view, Sunderland had missed a gilt-edged chance on the brink of half time when Abdoullah Ba missed from just a couple of yards out, and the game ended with Jack Clarke driving relentlessly towards the byline - Boro hanging on. Sunderland had probably enjoyed the better of the first half even before Ba’s miss, and yet Boro had consistently demonstrated the threat they posed. On numerous occasions they sprung in behind Sunderland’s defensive line, denied only by some poor execution in the final third.

In the second half they took almost complete control, and you could understand why Michael Carrick looked almost baffled by his team’s inability to take three points from the game. 

Sunderland were second best all over the pitch, little control of the game in midfield and no real presence in the final third. Boro were able to step right up the pitch and those through balls that had threatened intermittently in the first half were now a constant theme. Sunderland went one behind and it could easily have been more.

So while Beale’s assessment of the overall balance of play was fair, it was also undeniable that they had been drifting towards an uninspired defeat when their equaliser arrived almost out of nowhere. Dan Ballard had flicked Jack Clarke free kick just wide moments earlier, but Sunderland approached the last ten minutes of the second without testing Tom Glover once. 

When Nazariy Rusyn gathered possession to the right of Boro’s penalty box, few would have anticipated that was about to change. Glover ought to have saved his effort but it somehow found its way through, a stroke of luck that Sunderland had done little to yield. To Rusyn’s credit, fortune favoured the brave and Glover’s error must at least in part have been a consequence of the 25-year-old unexpectedly taking the shot early and on his weaker foot. There were most definitely positives to take out of this game for Sunderland and Rusyn’s energetic cameo was arguably the biggest, his relentless running turning the home defence towards their own goal for the first time in the half. A steady debut from Leo Hjelde, in turn allowing Trai Hume to return to his preferred position, was another. Beale revealed afterwards that Rusyn now has his family with him in the UK, understandably helping him settle and as his English continues to improve there are reasons to believe that he can really have an impact on the campaign. The interesting dilemma for Beale is that his goal came as picked up space out wide and burst infield, the kind of position where he consistently seems most threatening. A target man or a number nine who drops deep to link up the play, he is not.

You could see why both head coaches felt there was plenty for them to take forward from their respective team’s performances, and yet watching on it wasn’t difficult to see why both teams have struggled to really kick on from where they finished last season. Middlesbrough’s passing through the lines is smooth and incisive and Sunderland continue to boast a major threat in the wide areas, but neither seem to have the ruthlessness to consistently make it count. Take a look at the line-ups from when they faced each other at the Stadium of Light a year ago and the list of absentees goes some way to explaining why: Giles, Akpom, Archer, Stewart, Amad. Both are undoubtedly play-off contenders and yet both undoubtedly have questions to answer, particularly in the final third.

Beale made clear in his otherwise upbeat post-match assessment that the start to the second half from his side was nowhere near good enough, a point he had also made in the dressing room immediately after the game. 

This wasn’t an afternoon that suggested any major leap forward, but against strong opposition it was a point hard earned and one that has given Sunderland a platform. There remains something unconvincing about their play, a team that still at times looks to be searching for an identity under a new head coach. This point doesn’t really answer any key questions about where this campaign is headed and that second half leaves a definite sense of unease, but the table at the end of it speaks for itself. For the top six at least, Sunderland are right there.