McCann the spot-kick king for Sunderland

Sunderland 2 Blackburn Rovers 2 aet; score at 90min, 2-2 Sunderland win 3-0 on pens

It isn't over until the fat lady sings, it is a game of 90 minutes, it only takes a second to score a goal. Footballers have repeated these clichés a hundred times, but Sunderland appear not to have absorbed them.

But for last-gasp goals conceded against Manchester United and Southampton, they would not be bottom of the Premiership and they would not have needed this FA Cup fourth-round replay, let alone the penalty shoot-out which decided it. Sunderland, famously, are not much good at penalties and it was probably a mercy that their manager, Howard Wilkinson, had already withdrawn his captain, Michael Gray, who had missed the penalty which cost his home-town club promotion the 1998 play-off final.

This time, they won through mainly because Blackburn made an absolute pig's ear of their spot-kicks. None of their three penalties was converted and it was interesting that the only one who consoled Andy Cole was David Thompson, another unsuccessful penalty taker.

It was fitting, however, that Gavin McCann should have sealed Sunderland's progress into the fifth round, where they face a home tie with Watford, with a spot-kick that squirmed under Brad Friedel's body, since he should have scored the winner 10 minutes from the end of normal time with a blistering volley delivered from the edge of the area.

That should have been that. In the first game at Ewood Park, Dwight Yorke had found the Sunderland net in a desperate, speculative attack two minutes into stoppage time. Last night full-time was about to be embraced when Gray allowed Thompson to deliver a low cross which Garry Flitcroft drove home for his second goal of a numbingly cold evening. Extra time was a fitful, frozen affair in which only Sean Thornton came close to prising open the deadlock.

After Saturday's shambolic defeat by Charlton, which contained three own goals, Wilkinson promised that those who came to the Stadium of Light would witness a very different performance. Not many did, but, as they had at Ewood, Sunderland played with freedom. When the competition began, the FA Cup seemed an irrelevance to Sunderland, now it seems essential, sprinkling the only magic on a wretched season.

The FA Cup has brought out the kind of striking instincts in Kevin Phillips which in the Premiership have been buried in an avalanche of poor service. Yet his opening goal, tucked smartly away in the 11th minute, was his third in as many Cup games. A neat pass from Thornton, a quick glance to check he was onside, and Phillips found himself Sunderland's record post-war goalscorer in the FA Cup. Another 15 will take him past the great Bobby Gurney.

Four minutes after the restart, he might have settled everything. Phillips found himself alone with 25 yards between himself and goal. It is the kind of situation in which confidence is tested and Phillips proved his was intact with a shot that struck the post. Michael Proctor, who had scored two of Saturday's own-goals, was again unfortunate, miskicking as he attempted to force the rebound home.

Roughly one minute later, the error was punished. Thompson's corner was only the second genuine chance Blackburn had created, but McCann's inability to mark his man ensured Flitcroft converted it. But Graeme Souness's side have lost the art of winning games. Since crushing Aston Villa in the third round, eight matches have finished without victory and now their season can virtually be pronounced dead. Sunderland's continues to live, however precariously.

Sunderland (4-4-2): Sorensen; Wright, Craddock, Thome, Gray (Oster, 114); Thornton, Kilbane, McCann, Arca (McCartney, 87); Proctor (Kyle, 116), Phillips. Substitutes not used: Thirlwell, Macho (gk).

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel; Neill, Berg, Taylor, McEveley (Douglas, h-t); Thompson, Flitcroft, Tugay, Johansson (Grabbi, 82); Yorke (Ostenstad, 73) Cole. Substitutes not used: Jansen, Kelly (gk).

Referee: A D'Urso (Essex).