BACK from his misadventure with Liverpool, Robbie Keane placed himself firmly back in the heart of Tottenham supporters with his second goal in two games, struck one minute from the final whistle, which rescued a hardly-deserved but vital point for the away side. Keane’s brilliantly taken goal from a Darren Bent cross was the first strike of conviction by Spurs in the match after Kieran Richardson’s goal for Sunderland on three minutes had appeared to settle this scrappy affair.

“I was delighted to see the cross going to Robbie because he is such a good finisher,” Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said. “After a bad start I felt we dominated the game.”

On a day when the rest of the Premier League took a break, both sides had the chance to leap clear of the relegation zone, but neither seemed to have the self-confidence to complete the manoeuvre. Keane kept the captaincy despite the return to the side of Ledley King, who had recovered from a knee injury but looked a little sluggish as Sunderland took the lead.

The ball was swept up the right wing to Djibril Cisse, who flicked the ball inside to Steed Malbranque. Malbranque ran dangerously at the Spurs defence but the ball bounced off King and landed nicely at the feet of Richardson. His first touch took him free of the Spurs defence and he finished coolly from an angle with a low shot past Heurelho Gomes.

Not for the first time this season, Sunderland appeared to rest on their laurels and allowed Spurs to come on to them. Aaron Lennon was a constant threat down the right but his final ball again let him down. The ball kept on coming back at the Sunderland defence because of the failure of Cisse and Kenwyne Jones to hold it up.

Cisse was also guilty of the miss of the game when he was teed up by Andy Reid for a free header, but sent the ball wide from around the penalty spot with the goal gaping.

Dean Whitehead, who had also been guilty of constantly giving the ball away, presented Bent with a great opportunity with a sliced clearance that landed at the striker’s feet, but Bent blasted over. He wasted another chance soon afterwards only to shoot wide.

Sunderland appeared to have done enough to scrape the three points, but got caught on the break from a corner and Bent found himself in a dangerous position down the right with George McCartney struggling to recover his ground. Bent’s low cross was met by Keane arriving in the box and he thumped the ball first time past Marton Fulop.

“We ended up three by three at the back for their goal which is absolutely criminal,” the Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia said. “We didn’t have to throw bodies forward, but we did. It was daft.”

Star man: Steed Malbranque (Sunderland)

SUNDERLAND: Fulop 6, Bardsley 6, Ben Haim 7, Collins 7, McCartney 5, Malbranque 7, Whitehead 4, Richardson 6 (Leadbitter 83min), Reid 6 (Edwards 83min), Cisse 5 (Murphy 73min), Jones 5

TOTTENHAM: Gomes 5, Corluka 5 (Pavlyuchenko 83min), Woodgate 6, King 6, Chimbonda 6, Modric 6, Palacios 6 (Bentley 72min), Jenas 5 (Huddlestone 63min), Lennon 6, Keane 7, Bent 6

Yellow cards: Sunderland: Richardson, McCartney, Bardsley Tottenham: Corluka, Woodgate

Referee: P Dowd Attendance: 37,894