Black Cats held by Canaries

Sunderland - Bottom of the table Sunderland, fresh from their League Cup exploit over Chelsea, were held to a goalless draw by Norwich on Saturday, a stalemate that extended the Black Cats' winless league run to six.

Sunderland, who ended the game with 10 men, took to the pitch seeking to follow up their midweek heroics against Chelsea when South Korea's Ki Sung-Yueng sealed a famous extra time win with his first goal for the club to put Gus Poyet's team into a League Cup semi-final against Manchester United.

But Sunderland's league form has been an altogether different story, and they welcomed Norwich stuck at the foot of the table after just two wins and aiming to break a five-game run without a win.

But this point, combined with losses for Fulham and Crystal Palace, saw them at least reduce the deficit on those two teams immediately above them, from four to three points.

Norwich started brightly, striker Gary Hooper miscuing an early shot in front of goal, and then only a neat one-handed save from Sunderland keeper Vito Mannone denying Nathan Redmond's attempt into the bottom corner on 13 minutes.

Down at the other end Sunderland's Ki set up Fabio Borini on the break only for the shot from 20 yards to thud into the side netting.

An open first period ended with Mannone doing well to deny a venomous 18 yard strike from Hooper, while on the strike of half time, he kept out Leroy Fer's side-footed shot.

On the restart both sides continued to find the killer touch elusive but on 70 minutes the deadlock was almost broken when after a corner Wes Brown headed off the right post.

A flurry of missed opportunities including Ki hitting high with goalkeeper John Ruddy stranded out of his goal near the death summed up a frustrating, afternoon which ended on a sour note for the hosts with Brown red carded for a reckless tackle on Ricky van Wolsfwinkel in the third minute of injury time.

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