The hosts had a late chance to snatch all three points when Danny Rose shot from the edge of the penalty area, but it clipped the outside of the post.Before the match, 11 of the 12 Sunderland players who were involved in their shock 1-0 FA Cup final win against Leeds 40 years ago were paraded to the Stadium of Light crowd, but the celebrations did not last long. With 11-goal top scorer Steven Fletcher out for the season with an ankle injury and Stephane Sessegnon suspended after his dismissal at Villa Park, Sunderland lacked creativity, were reduced to speculative long-range shots and struggled to find a way past an imposing Stoke defence. Sunderland, woeful in the first half, showed their character to fight back and secure a draw after Walters's early goal and Gardner's red card had left them facing their 17th league defeat of the season.Poor marking from Adam's ninth-minute corner allowed Walters a free header and although it was blocked by Danny Graham, the rebound fell kindly to the Republic of Ireland international, who blasted the ball in off the underside of the crossbar. The only negative for the hosts was another blank night for striker Graham, who has now failed to score in his 11 appearances for the Black Cats since joining in a £5m move from Swansea at the end of January.However, a goal from captain O'Shea, only his second for the club, was enough to take the Black Cats up to 15th, three points above Wigan who occupy the final relegation place.The hosts' cause was not helped by Gardner's 34th minute dismissal, although the midfielder could have few complaints following a reckless challenge on Adam, who was lucky not to suffer a serious injury.While the Potters missed out on only their third away league win of the season, they still lifted themselves up to 41 points, six clear of the bottom three.
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