Sunderland and Fleetwood shared the points in an entertaining game that truly could have gone either way. The visitors opened the scoring through Patrick Madden early on but the hosts responded well to falling behind and leveled through Josh Maja late in the first half. The sides exchanged blows and both had chances to win it. Madden had an early second half penalty saved by Jon McLaughlin, but Sunderland ended the stronger and came closest when Glenn Loovens headed against the post.

The game was lively from the word-go. The hosts should have taken the lead through Lynden Gooch, but he fired wide from close range and had his miss punished on nine minutes, when Madden headed home from close range following a corner.

It was nearly 2:0 when Ched Evans missing the target after connecting with a cross, but Sunderland soon started to boss possession. The hosts did not create many clear openings but were rewarded for their efforts late in the half, when Gooch atoned for his earlier miss by producing a superb cross for Maja to head home.

The second half started with James Husband winning a penalty for the visitors, but Madden had his spot-kick saved by McLaughlin.

The sides then exchanged bad misses, as Ched Evans and Jack Baldwin both missed the opposing goals from close range.

The game slowed down a bit around the 70-minute mark but the hosts turned on the pressure in the late stages. However, Alex Cairns produced a superb double save to deny Charlie Wyke and Gooch, while Loovens headed against the post, as it ended all square.

It was a very entertaining game of two sides that were looking to play football and perhaps a 2:2 draw would have given a better reflection of what happened on the pitch over ninety minutes. Both sides had opportunities to win the game, but neither manager will be able to claim that his side were hard done by the result. The Black Cats and the Cod Army both remain inside the play-off places, with Sunderland currently fourth and Fleetwood sixth in the League One table.