Swansea City 0-0 Sunderland: Swans' 10 men dig in after Charlie Patino red

Swansea's Charlie Patino was sent off for two fouls on Pierre Ekwah in the space of 20 minutes

Swansea City's 10 men held on for a gutsy goalless draw at home to Sunderland in an eventful Championship encounter.

Swansea were being outplayed even before midfielder Charlie Patino was sent off for two yellow cards after half an hour.

Although Sunderland twice hit the woodwork in a dominant first-half display, the Swans had a golden chance to take the lead against the run of play, but Jamal Lowe's penalty was saved by Anthony Patterson.

Sunderland kept the pressure on their dogged opponents after the break but they were frustrated by a combination of wasteful finishing, wholehearted defending and inspired goalkeeping from Swansea's Carl Rushworth.

The result sees Sunderland stay eighth in the Championship, two points adrift of the play-off places, while the Swans drop to 14th.

Tony Mowbray will wonder quite how his team failed to win. Long before their opponents had been reduced to 10 men, Sunderland were much the better team.

The visitors were quick to seize control and particularly dominant in midfield, where they overran a passive and porous Swansea side.

For all their impressive qualities, though, the obvious component missing from Sunderland's performance was their finishing.

Their first notable chance fell to Nazariy Rusyn but, having been released by Jobe Bellingham's fine through ball, the Ukrainian striker lost his balance and fired wide.

Jack Clarke then had a shot saved by Rushworth, who also pushed a low effort by Patrick Roberts on to the post.

If Swansea felt like they were holding on at that point, their task become seriously daunting after half an hour when Patino received his second booking for a second foul on Pierre Ekwah in the space of 20 minutes.

However, completely against the run of play, the Swans were awarded a penalty when Liam Cullen was dragged down by Luke O'Nien at a corner.

Lowe, after a slow and tentative run-up, saw his spot-kick saved comfortably by Patterson diving to his right.

A Clarke free-kick which clipped the Swansea crossbar was the final act of the first half and, sensing his team needed more control after the break, Swans head coach Michael Duff replaced forward Cullen with midfielder Jay Fulton.

The Scot was straight into the action with a full-blooded sliding tackle on Daniel Ballard which, despite winning Fulton the ball, earned him a yellow card.

Duff's furious reaction on the touchline also landed him in trouble with a booking of his own, fuelling a raging sense of injustice at the Swansea.com Stadium which in turn seemed to galvanise the Swans' players.

Sunderland were still on top, though the home side posed at least a fleeting threat on the break with Lowe seeing a low shot well held by Patterson.

The save of the day arguably came from Rushworth, who reacted superbly to tip the ball over after it deflected off O'Nien's shoulder from close range.

The Swansea keeper could do little other than watch as a shot by Sunderland substitute Abdoullah Ba arched over his head and hit the bar, though Rushworth could argue he had earned a bit of fortune with his earlier exploits.

Sunderland had more than 70% possession and 25 shots but ultimately could not find a way past their resolute hosts in a frantic finale as Swansea clung on for a draw which felt like a win.

Swansea City head coach Michael Duff:

"I thought we were magnificent. I think anything that could have gone against us went against us. But we played 75 minutes with 10 men against one of the best teams in the league.

"Until the red card we weren't good enough with the ball, but I want to talk about the spirit, people putting their bodies on the line and giving everything for the shirt.

"And we had the best chance of the game, but that went against us.

"We have talked about togetherness a lot, in the last few weeks, and that proves it. They are together. We have had a difficult start, so much change in the football club, but the one constant has been the togetherness."

Sunderland head coach Tony Mowbray:

"We're all frustrated. I think we were at our best in the first 30 minutes, 11 v 11. We should have been three up. It's frustrating playing against 10 men.

"Credit to them [Swansea]. They worked hard, they put their bodies on the line, they defended well and they'll be happy with a point.

"I'm only disappointed with the fact we didn't put the ball in the net. The performance level was total domination but you've got to score.

"We do have inexperienced strikers. We're not short on goals but invariably it's not the strikers scoring the goals. We're struggling to find the formula with a centre-forward."