sport news Fulham 1-1 Sunderland: Tom Cairney scores to earn Marco Silva's side an FA Cup ... trends now

It has been 50 years since Sunderland won the FA Cup and while it may be premature to entertain any such conversations, the Black Cats put in a valiant performance in a thrilling game against Premier League Fulham to take the Cottagers to a fourth-round replay.

Sunderland’s priority no doubt lies in the Championship, where they are currently ninth, and a push for the play-off positions after six years away from the Premier League but Tony Mowbray’s side showed no signs of taking this competition lightly in a sensational game that had 39 attempts yet finished one apiece. This was a proper cup tie.

Fulham manager Marco Silva rolled in the changes, with seven from the side that lost to Tottenham on Monday night while Mowbray made just the one alteration from the team that defeated Middlesbrough in the Championship last weekend.

Just shy of six-thousand Sunderland fans had made the trip down to West London and it took just six minutes for them to be rewarded when Jack Clarke nicked the ball off Issa Diop - who was guilty of taking far too long the ball - and calmly finished past Marek Rodak into the bottom corner. The away end erupted at the opposite end of the pitch.

Fulham nearly responded immediately as Andreas Pereira’s curling delivery found the leaping Tosin Adarabioyo, who headed the ball into the ground and over the bar.

Just when it looked like everything was going well for Sunderland, Ross Stewart pulled up inside the Fulham box with what looked like an achilles injury. The ‘Loch Ness Drogba’ as he has come to be known was put on a stretcher and applauded off but you couldn’t help but feel like this was a pivotal moment in their season.

Despite missing 15 league games this campaign, his tally of 10 goals in the Championship gives him the best minutes-per-goal ratio in the division. Stewart’s injury signalled the arrival of Abdoullah Ba, with Sunderland having nine players aged 22 or under on the pitch.

The hosts grew into the game and Pereira’s claims for a penalty after Aji Alese’s challenge were waved away by referee Michael Salisbury before Harry Wilson played a neat one-two with the Brazilian but couldn’t keep his strike down.

Yet Sunderland posed a persistent threat despite the loss of their striker, particularly down the right flank with their quick link-up play and constant energy in possession.