Blackburn's Harry Leonard found the net just three minutes after coming off the bench
Substitute Harry Leonard's late equaliser salvaged a point for Blackburn as they shared the spoils with promotion rivals Sunderland at Ewood Park.
Rovers dominated the first period and deservedly led through Yuki Ohashi's close-range finish – but Sunderland turned the contest on its head by scoring twice inside four minutes soon after the restart.
Teenager Chris Rigg levelled before French forward Wilson Isidor, who had not scored in eight games, back-heeled the second from a Patrick Roberts cross.
But Leonard, on as a late replacement for Sondre Tronstad, rammed in his first goal of the season to rescue a draw.
Despite John Eustace making five changes – two enforced by injuries to Lewis Travis and Harry Pickering – from the side that had lost at Millwall last weekend, Blackburn settled immediately into their rhythm.
Tyrhys Dolan might have opened the scoring when Ryan Hedges played him through on the counter-attack, slipping inside his marker before ballooning the finish over the bar with only Anthony Patterson to beat.
But another incisive run by Dolan contributed to Rovers' opener soon afterwards as Callum Brittain's drive cannoned across the box and took two deflections before falling for Ohashi to sweep into the net.
The home side continued to control proceedings and could have extended their advantage before the break, with Hedges dragging his effort straight at Patterson and Dolan rammed Ohashi's flick-on into the net – only to fall foul of the offside flag.
However, having produced little in the way of attacking threat throughout the first half, Sunderland staged a swift turnaround by striking twice in quick succession.
Roberts and Luke O'Nien combined on the right and Blackburn failed to clear the latter's low cross, with the ball popping up for Rigg to steer in from close range.
The Black Cats' second goal soon followed courtesy of another teasing run by Roberts, who cut the ball back for Isidor to back-heel deftly beyond Aynsley Pears.
The visitors might have wrapped up victory when Chris Mepham headed a Roberts free-kick wide, while Jobe Bellingham – watched from the stands by his brother Jude and their parents – also went close to making it 3-1.
But Blackburn equalised when Makhtar Gueye nodded down a cross for fellow substitute Leonard to score – although they were indebted to Pears, who came out to deny Eliezer Mayenda a winner in injury time.
Chris Rigg scored his fourth goal of the season for Sunderland and his first since 23 October
Blackburn head coach John Eustace told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"I thought we played some fantastic football in the first half, it could have been more and we need to be more clinical. Second half we came out a little bit slow against a top team in Sunderland, you can see why they're in the top three or four.
"When we went 2-1 down, the lads never gave up and that's the most pleasing thing for me – we could quite easily have gone under. I'm just delighted we never gave up and came away at least with a point.
"I think that's about the ninth goal from a substitute this season and that's a pleasing stat – it just shows we have to use our squad.
"Every member of the squad's very important. No matter who starts, the most important people on the pitch are those who finish and the substitutes are definitely making a difference."
Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris told BBC Radio Newcastle:
"It's not a bad result in the end, probably the question is more about the dynamic of the game. It wasn't our best start, we were just not at our best level but we reacted well in the second half.
"We played our football, we pressed high and recovered the ball and during the second half we had many chances to score. But when you're away with a full stadium, you know you can concede a goal at the end with high pressure.
"We have to work again on our consistency, it's a key word for a team to be at the top of the league. We have a talented team, the question is how we can perform along (the course of) the whole league.
"They reacted well, so they have the mentality – it's a question of starting from the beginning until the end."
