Millwall 1-1 Sunderland: Jack Clarke penalty earns Black Cats draw at The Den

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Eight of Jack Clarke's 10 Championship goals for Sunderland this season have come away from the Stadium of LightImage source, Getty Images
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Eight of Jack Clarke's 10 Championship goals for Sunderland this season have come away from the Stadium of Light

Jack Clarke's penalty - his 10th Championship goal of the season - earned Sunderland a point at Millwall.

Kevin Nisbet volleyed into the bottom corner after being set up by Brooke Norton-Cuffy to put the Lions ahead just before half-time.

But Clarke equalised from the spot on 78 minutes after being fouled by Ryan Leonard.

Dan Ballard had earlier missed a golden chance to level for the Black Cats by firing over with the goal at his mercy.

With this team trailing - and having failed to score in three consecutive away matches - Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray made a triple change early in the second half, sending on Alex Pritchard, Bradley Dack and Patrick Roberts.

Dack went close when he flicked Clarke's cross narrowly wide of the target, and Ballard's miss gave the home fans hope of a much-needed win under new boss Joe Edwards - the Lions having lost their previous three home games.

They would have doubled their lead but for a number of saves by keeper Anthony Patterson, the pick of the bunch being a fine stop to keep out Tom Bradshaw's flick following Ryan Longman's cross.

Bradshaw did then find the net but the goal was disallowed for offside, and Sunderland equalised soon afterwards.

The point moved Mowbray's side up to ninth in the Championship table, three points away from the play-off places, while Millwall remain 19th.

Millwall boss Joe Edwards told BBC Radio London:

"I'm happy with the performance in general. It's about sticking together, still being positive and on the front foot, and I thought in general we were that.

"Sunderland dominated the second half in terms of possession and probably territory, but we had some big moments.

"Once we conceded the goal you could feel it was a real blow for us to take, but we carried on and were pushing towards the end as much as they were.

"I also thought we were very good out of possession. You have to respect that Sunderland are one of the highest-scoring teams in the Championship, and I thought we dealt with it very well while still having a nice balance of asking questions at the other end."

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Tyne & Wear:

"I thought we controlled the game for the vast amount of time really.

"We tried to play high, keep the ball away from our goal and tried to dominate possession of the ball in their half.

"Generally we did that. Their goal was a bit of a breakaway. We played OK in the controlling aspect of keeping Millwall from loading our box.

"But we're still lacking a real goal threat. We didn't look like we were going to score loads of goals.

"That's not meant to be a criticism - these are young players who need the game time to learn the job. They're learning on the job and we have to keep showing them.

"Then we will hopefully have strikers that are banging the ball in the net to help us with the possession and domination of certain games that we have."

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