Stoke vs Sunderland match report: Charlie Adam's superb strike salvages a point for Potters after Connor Wickham struck inside first minute

Stoke 1 Sunderland 1: Wickham gave Blacks Cats a flying start but Adam continued his rich vein of form to level it up

Charlie Austin celebrates his equaliser (Getty Images)

Sunderland fought to take an away point when they might have been swamped as Stoke laid siege to Costel Pantilimon’s goal but their Premier League survival hopes look just a little more bleak after results elsewhere pushed them into the bottom three.

After a difficult week for the Wearside club, who left Adam Johnson at home after the England player was charged with child sex offences, they will look at this result as a setback after Hull and Leicester won away. Yet head coach Dick Advocaat, who said that Johnson had missed three days’ training, saw reasons for optimism from a second half in which they had chances to secure the win that would have kept those two behind them.

“I am pleased because in the first half we played very poorly and we were lucky that it stayed 1-1 until half-time,” he said.

“We had some problems picking up players but we made some changes for the second half and we created three or four good opportunities. But at this level you have to score because you don’t get more than four or five in a game. We have to do it by ourselves now but I think everything is open for the bottom five or six clubs and we need to take that commitment from the second half into the next game against Southampton.”

Sunderland were handed a gift at the start after Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic allowed a low ball into the six-yard box to squirm from his grasp when he seemed to have it under control. Connor Wickham toe-poked it over the line from close range.

Connor Wickham scores the opener for Sunderland (Getty Images)

It was the second costly mistake by Begovic in recent games, his intercepted throw at Stamford Bridge having allowed Loic Remy to score Chelsea’s winning goal. But Stoke dominated the rest of the opening half and levelled through Charlie Adam’s missile-like strike from the edge of the box after Marko Arnautovic had rolled the ball into his path.

Sunderland’s best period came at the beginning of the second half, when their best chance fell to full-back Billy Jones, saved by Begovic. Stoke finished strongly and saves by Pantilimon denied Mame Biram Diouf and the in-form Adam (left) a winning goal. Adam let fly with another rocket, this time from 25 yards, which the goalkeeper somehow kept out.

Wickham celebrates his goal against Stoke (Getty Images)

Line-ups:

Stoke City: (4-2-3-1) Begovic; Cameron (Bardsley, 86), Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters; N’Zonzi, Adam; Walters (Odemwinge, 80), Ireland, Arnautovic; Diouf (Crouch, 71).

Sunderland: (4-4-2) Pantilimon; Jones, Coates, O’Shea, Van Aanholt; Buckley (Graham, h-t), Cattermole, Rodwell, Gomez; Defoe, Wickham.

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Man of the match: Adam (Stoke City)

Match rating: 7/10