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| Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat's side fought back to secure 2-2 draw at Villa Park |
DICK ADVOCAAT will be pleased with his Sunderland side despite remaining at the bottom of the Premier League table after goals from Yann M'Vila and Jeremain Lens cancelled out Scott Sinclair's brace at Villa Park.
Aston Villa made two changes to the side that lost at Crystal Palace, bringing in Alan Hutton and Scott Sinclair, while Younes Kaboul took back his place in the starting line-up for Sunderland at the expense of Sebastian Coates.
The game began with a battle for superiority in midfield but it was Advocaat's men who packed the biggest punch and this shown after eight minutes when summer signing M'Vila curled a 25-yard free-kick over the wall and past Brad Guzan after a silly foul from Jordan Amavi.
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| Aston Villa's Scott Sinclair celebrating |
However, Sunderland's lead lasted all of three minutes as Lee Cattermole clumsily bundled over Sinclair in the box, allowing the 26-year-old to brush himself down and calmly slot his penalty past Costel Pantilimon.
This immediate reply saw the pendulum swing Tim Sherwood's way and allowed Villa to take the lead in the 41st minute with Amavi making up for his earlier error by swinging in a low driven cross for Sinclair to side-foot home as Villa ended the half on top after a shaky start.
Advocaat looked to repair the damage in the second half as he introduced debutant Ola Toivonen and Steven Fletcher in place of Cattermole and Danny Graham.
And Advocaat's changes paid off as Toivonen made an instant impact by robbing the ball off of Carlos Sanchez and setting up Jeremain Lens to fire a 52nd-minute 12-yard deflected shot into the net.
Both side had chances to secure the three points late-on with Jermain Defoe and Rudy Gestede going close for either side, but the points were shared.
This result sees Villa rise to 12th while Sunderland remain bottom in 20th.
Starting line-ups:
Sunderland: Pantilimon, Jones, van Aanholt, O'Shea, Kaboul, Cattermole, M'Vila, Rodwell, Lens, Defoe, Graham.
Aston Villa: Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Clark, Amavi, Bacuna, Gana, Westwood, Sanchez, Sinclair, Gestede.
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