A DODGY decision was the difference between a bore draw and a precious away win for Sunderland at Pride Park. Michael Chopra’s legitimate first-half goal was chalked off for an offside that wasn’t, robbing Sunderland of a victory that would have pushed them further towards safety. Instead they had to settle for their first goalless draw of the season, which was at least enough to avoid setting a new club record of 11 successive defeats on the road. But there is no doubt that Roy Keane and his men will regard this as a missed opportunity. Never will they have a better chance to clock up that all-important first away win of the season. Doomed Derby are adrift at the foot of the Premier League table and are heading for a quick return to the Championship. So annoyed was boss Paul Jewell with their surrender at Wigan last weekend that he ran the legs off them in the week with extra training sessions. The Derby players complained that they had hardly seen a ball all week . . . and the way they played yesterday, you could believe them! Sunderland should have had no problems knocking them over, but they failed to make the most of the chances they created – and when they did get the ball in the net, the linesman let them down. Sunderland’s first clean sheet away from home earned them a point and lifted them up one place to 14th in the table. But wins for fellow relegation strugglers Reading and Birmingham have closed things up at the bottom and the gap between the Black Cats and the relegation zone has halved to just two points. Keane made three changes to the side that started last weekend’s defeat at Portsmouth. Out went the suspended Danny Collins, who was replaced by Danny Higginbotham at left-back. He was making his return to action after two months out with a broken toe. Kieran Richardson is fit again after recovering from his hamstring problem and took the place of Grant Leadbitter in central midfield. Sunderland played 4-5-1 at Pompey, but switched to 4-4-2 at Pride Park. Daryl Murphy moved up front alongside Kenwyne Jones, which meant Chopra took Murphy’s place on the right-side of midfield with central midfielder Dickson Etuhu the man to make way. Sunderland started well and only the woodwork denied them a dream start with less than four minutes on the clock. The ball was pumped up to Murphy on the edge of the box and he controlled it before hitting a left-foot shot. It beat Derby keeper Roy Carroll, but came back off the bar and bounced to safety. Carroll then made a fairly routine save from Murphy in the 20th minute from what was the game’s first shot on target. But Sunderland should have gone in front 10 minutes before the interval. Andy Reid burst into the box down the left and rolled the ball across the face of goal for Chopra to sidefoot home, but his effort did not count. It was a close call, but TV replays showed Chopra was in line with a Derby defender when Reid made his pass. Sunderland were incensed, but at that stage there was plenty of time for them to make their dominance count. Right on the stroke of half-time they were almost gifted a goal when Higginbotham crossed from the left. The ball clipped the ankle of ex-Sunderland man Alan Stubbs and flashed inches wide. Stubbs is not fondly remembered on Wearside and had he scored an own goal in front of the 3000-strong travelling Red and White Army, there would have been few tears. The second half was largely a non-event. Not until the final 10 minutes did Sunderland step it up and really go in search of a winner. Phil Bardsley saw a volley from a tight angle saved at the second attempt by Carroll. Jones had a lacklustre game, but he had a good chance to break the deadlock seven minutes from time. Sub Anthony Stokes flicked on a long clearance from Gordon into the path of his strike partner. But after taking the ball well, Jones dragged his shot wide. Former Derby man Higginbotham almost nicked it for Sunderland in the 90th minute. Richardson’s shot had been kept out by Carroll and the defender volleyed the rebound goalwards from six yards out. However, Rams sub Hossam Ghaly made a terrific block to save a point for his side. Sunderland’s miserable away form this season has meant they have had to rely heavily on their home form. But they face testing times in the next fortnight with high-flying Everton and title-hopefuls Chelsea both due on Wearside. The Black Cats are still up to their necks in the relegation mire. | 
