Many pundits questioned Martin O'Neill's sanity in the wake of a 12 million outlay on Steven Fletcher earlier this week, but the striker showed up his critics by hitting two past previously-perfect Swansea City, leading Sunderland to grab an important point at the Liberty Stadium.
The Swans had made a hugely impressive start to the season, scoring eight goals without reply, and they were still very good on the day, thoroughly dominating possession and creating the bulk of the chances. Sunderland, however, were able exploit their hosts mistake, and Fletcher scored a goal out of nothing when he raced onto Ashley William's poor back pass and lash past Michel Vorm.
Swansea recovered quickly, with Wayne Routledge finishing off a flowing passing move during the six minutes of stoppage time that were added for Neil Taylor's injury (which turned out to be a broken ankle), but Fletcher struck again just after the break when a deflected free kick found him unmarked for a tap-in on the back post. A 66th minute Michu header, however, would level the scores once more.
Considering their dominance of all phases of the match and their blistering start to the Premier League campaign, you wouldn't have been blamed for half-expecting Swansea to press on and take all three points, but centre back Chico Flores put a damper on any hopes of a home rally by kicking Louis Saha in the head and earning himself a red card for his troubles.
So, that's yet another 100 percent record fallen by the wayside. Well done to Sunderland for an impressive point.
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