Ewood park was the venue, with Sunderland looking to build on some impressive results of late.

The pre match atmosphere in the Fenhurst pub and under the stand was electric, with our lot in fine voice. It was good to hear the new song for Elmo on repeat at times and I think the next set of away fans to visit Ewood might might have trouble following the exit sign!

The match kicked off and in the opening minutes Sunderland looked to have continued where they left off before the international break, quick passing and on the grass. However first real chance fell to Morten Gamst Pedersen, whose whipped free kick was tipped over by Mignolet.

Not long after that the chance of the game arrived and it fell to Bent, who managed to go one on one, after a slip by Gael Givet. You would have put your house on Bent netting but his shot was saved by the impressive Paul Robinson.

Then towards the end of the first half came, what should have been, the turning point in the game, when Samba pulled down Danny Welbeck outside the area. Welbeck was in on goal, and the odds are he would have scored.

Referee Lee Probert, having consulted his linesman, correctly applied the letter of the law in dismissing Samba, and was proved to be just about right to award a free-kick on the edge of the area where the first contact was made. The resulting set piece was blocked by the wall and on the rebound Bent dragged an effort a yard wide.

In the second half Bent powered his header well wide of the target from an inviting cross from Ahmed Elmohamady. Time wore on with Sunderland looking comfortable but rarely threatening. When Titus ‘The Titan’ Bramble was called into action to clear a fumble from Mignolet, it looked like a draw would be inevitable.

Bent then reacted well to a loose ball in the box but Robinson was equal to it and timed his challenge well but it fell to Steed Malbranque whose lobbed shot just couldn`t quite find the net.

Gyan was then introduced to try add more attacking options for Sunderland half way through the second half and it wasnt long until the Ghanian forced Robinson to be at full stretch to keep out a fine 20-yard curling effort, while substitute Bolo Zenden fizzed a drive narrowly wide and Bent should have given the goalkeeper more of a test from only six yards out as Sunderland finished strongly.

In the end it finished all square. We should be satisfied with a point against a team who is hard to beat on their own patch. However, with the man advantage and the better of the chances it feels like the three were there for the taking.

on a lighter note: good to see many fellow fans showing the logo down Ewood.

A big thankyou to everyone who took the time to enter the Sunderland Football competition to win a t-shirt. The name was picked randomly from a hat and I’m happy to announce that the winner is a Mr. Christopher Phillpott from London.

The t-shirt design was actually fronting an image of Lorik Cana…but as he’s now moved to Galatasary we’ve decided to throw in a scarf as well. It’s all good though, Cana wasn’t wearing his colours so you’ll still be able to get away with wearing it. But everyone will wonder why, in which case you can pretend you have Albanian roots.

Congratulations Christopher. Feel free to send us a picture of you wearing the t-shirt, if you can be bothered like!

All entrants (there weren’t that many of you!) will be automatically entered into our next competition.