Sunderland 2-2 Watford: Black Cats fight back to keep play-off hopes alive
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Sunderland have drawn four of their last five matches at the Stadium of Light
Sunderland kept their play-off hopes alive as they fought back from 2-0 down to earn a stoppage-time draw with Watford at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats began brightly but were rocked when Christian Kabasele rose highest to power home a header from Imran Louza's corner.
Ryan Porteous was gifted a free header from another Louza corner to double the lead, but just moments later Luke O'Nien tapped in to give the hosts hope.
Then Patrick Roberts whipped in a superb equaliser into the top corner in the sixth-minute of stoppage time to keep Sunderland seventh and within two points of sixth-placed Millwall with one match left.
Sunderland looked set to go into the final day three points behind Millwall, and with Coventry out of reach in fifth, when they fell 2-0 down midway through the second half.
Yet their latest rescue act - they have now picked up 22 points from losing positions this season - means they enter the final day of the season still capable of overhauling both sides with victory at Preston, whose own top-six hopes evaporated at Sheffield United.
They will need a favour from their north-east neighbours Middlesbrough, who host Coventry a week on Sunday while Millwall entertain play-off rivals Blackburn.
Roberts' superb equaliser extended the Black Cats unbeaten run to eight, but if they miss out at the end of the season they can point to a run of just one home win in their last eight at the Stadium of Light.
Watford provided the bigger threat for much of the match, with Sunderland keeper Anthony Patterson doing well to keep out Ryan Andrews' powerful first-half effort and Ismaila Sarr's heavily deflected shot after the break.
Yet they remain winless on the road since victory at Norwich on 2 January and sit 13th, their own play-off bid already scuppered by a run of three wins in their last 17 matches.
Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Newcastle:
"It gives us real clarity that we have to go and win at Preston next week and if we do everyone around us has tough games from what I can see on paper, so you never know.
"I'm pretty relaxed about it. The expectation is what the expectation is - we've given ourselves a really good opportunity going into the last game of the season.
"We didn't quite deal with their two set-plays. We know it's an Achilles heel of ours at the moment without (Danny) Batth and without (Daniel) Ballard and (Aji) Alese.
"We kept going until the death and got our rewards from what I thought was some pretty decent play."
Watford head coach Chris Wilder told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"It was a big five minutes just after we scored the second. If you see that out - and there are no guarantees - but it really does give you a big foothold to go and get the win, and we didn't.
"When the fourth official put up the number (for stoppage-time), it was never seven (minutes) so you just want a bit of consistency. I was surprised he put seven on - I wasn't expecting it to be one or two - and they found a fabulous equaliser and a brilliant finish.
"We lacked a little bit of energy late on in the game which I think from a bigger picture there will have to be a look at from the conditioning aspect of the players.
"It's been a long, hard season but players have got to be ready to be strong in that last 10 and 15 minutes and find that energy, and maybe if they can't do it there's question marks over that."