Sunderland 2 - Southampton 2

Glenn Hoddle stuck with the side which beat Chelsea last week - his first unchanged line-up of the season. German striker Uwe Rosler was back on the bench following hernia surgery and Hassan Kachloul returned after a week out with a groin strain in place of Stuart Ripley, now on loan at Barnsley.

For Sunderland Kevin Kilbane returned from suspension to take over from Julio Arkaica, who was away on international duty with the Argentina Under-21 side.

Emerson Thome recovered from 'flu to take over from Stanislav Varga, who dropped to the bench as he was not 100 per cent match fit.

Saints started with three at the back with Dodd moving to sweeper and Oakley switching to right wingback.

From a free-kick for handball against Marian Pahars, Kilbane pushed the ball wide to Michael Gray, whose cross was half punched clear by Saints keeper Paul Jones but he escaped as Niall Quinn hooked wide from the edge of the area.

Chris Makin went on the overlap but was robbed by Dean Richards at the expense of a corner which Jo Tessem kicked clear.

Sunderland went close when Kilbane and Gray linked well on the left and closed the ball inside for Darren Williams breaking from deep but Tessem dragged back well and got a touch to divert the shot narrowly wide and again Sunder-land wasted the corner.

Out of the blue Saints took the lead in astonishing fashion on 11 minutes. A long kick by Jones was headed out by Jody Craddock and as Pahars challenged Williams the ball broke for JAMES BEATTIE around 45 yards from goal.

He spotted the keeper off his line and quite deliberately hit a stunning pass volley over Black Cats keeper Thomas Sorensen, who got a hand to it as he backtracked but could not keep the ball out.

It was only the third goal Sunderland had conceded at home this season and reflected Beattie's new-found confidence after last week's double against Chelsea.

Dodd misjudged a diagonal ball from Makin to let Quinn in behind him but the big striker miscontrolled and failed to get a shot in.

The home side registered their first shot on target after 19 minutes when Quinn knocked down for Kilbane, whose 25-yard blast was beaten out strongly by Jones.

Sunderland levelled on 22 minutes with a move started and finished by QUINN, who nodded down for Phillips to run at the defence.

He was quickly closed down by Dodd and Richards but found Don Huchison on the right, and his low cross sliced through the Saints defence for Quinn to race in unmarked at the far post for a simple slot home...

For the full match report don't miss THE PINK on Saturday and the Daily Echo on Monday...