Sunderland have pulled off a brave comeback to draw 2-2 at home against Southampton, coming back from 2 goals down.

The visitors dominated the first half and will wonder how they could let such a firm grip on the game slip. Equally, the home side were flat and weak in the first half and will know they can’t allow their reversing of their own fortunes to gloss over a poor first half performance.

Southampton took the lead after just 4 minutes when Jay Rodriguez scored with the first shot on target.The striker took control of a headed pass from Morgan Schneiderlin before driving home from the edge of the box.

Dejan Lovren doubled the lead after 31 minutes with volley from Steven Davis’s cross. At that stage Sunderland looked like little more than ballast employed to give this game the appearance of a contest. The reaction, however, was unexpected and impressive.

Just 1 minute after falling 2 goals behind Fabio Borini halved the deficit when he broke through the Southampton defence and, collecting a pass from Adam Johnson, hit an imperfect but effective shot past Artur Boruc. It was Sunderland’s only shot on target in the first half.

Adam Johnson has been in excellent form in recent weeks – with a hat-trick last weekend the standout performance in a period of sustained quality – and he ensured that would continue today as he added to his earlier assist with a goal in the 71st minute. Johnson scored the equaliser with a powerful drive Boruc’s near post. The goal required inventiveness and vision from Johnson, but Boruc will be disappointed with his poor positioning and weak attempt at a stop.

In the immediate aftermath of the Johnson goal Southampton looked like a team hoping for a draw, but Sunderland’s pressure dissipated somewhat in the final 15 minutes and the game petered out with both sides likely to feel underwhelmed with what they had offered up over 90 minutes.