IT'S not too often that a man called Shearer threatens to be the hero at the Stadium of Light.

The normal course of events among the Wearside faithful on a Saturday afternoon involve a few renditions of a song about the Newcastle skipper that is far from complimentary, involving question marks over both his parentage and his state of health.

But on an afternoon where goalscoring opportunities were at a premium for the home side at least - the Black Cats left it to Shearer to be their most creative force. The Shearer in question you won't be surprised to hear wasn't Alan, but a certain Scot who goes by the name of Scott.

The Coventry City substitute goalkeeper arrived at half-time to replace the injured Peggy Arphexad and then almost grabbed an assist with the best pass of the day to a home striker.

There was no danger when Coventry skipper Mo Konjic sent the ball back to his keeper just before the hour mark, but his attempted clearance was straight to a somewhat surprised Kevin Kyle.

The former Irish Sea Ferries baggage handler couldn't believe his luck, and his surprise was such that he opted for an early crack at goal when he appeared to have an abundance of time.

The shot from the edge of the penalty are was just too close to Shearer, who did well to block the effort. But apart from that one save Shearer, just like Arphexad, had literally nothing to do.

The attacking threat from the home side was virtually non-existent. After their three goals in midweek at Gillingham it was business as usual for the misfiring Sunderland strike-force.

The problems in attack have been brushed off in the past by manager Mick McCarthy, but now they appear to be causing the former Republic of Ireland boss some concern.

"I'm not happy about it - nobody is," said McCarthy, who has now seen his side hit the target just once in their last four home games. "It hasn't been a concern prior to today because we've created chances in games before this. Today they were very few and far between."

McCarthy even tried to change things in attack, but the introduction of Tommy Smith for the ineffectual Kyle had little effect.

"I took him (Kyle) off to try something different," said the Sunderland manager. "I tried something else with Tommy Smith. A bit of pace but we didn't get the goal.

"Stewart Downing whose been absolutely brilliant in his first two games perhaps found three games in eight days a little bit too taxing.

"He's been playing reserve team football, perhaps one game a week, then suddenly travelling to West Brom, playing, and then travelling to Gillingham, playing, it becomes difficult.

"That's where our creativity has been coming from. I'm not looking for an excuse because Coventry played well, deserved the point and perhaps could have got the three."

The fact they didn't get all the points was down to Mart Poom's crossbar and the profligacy in front of goal of former Aston Villa and Leicester striker Julian Joachim.

On the quarter hour, Joachim's pace took him clear of the Sunderland defence on the first of many occasions, but his effort was straight at Poom. Late on in the first-half Joachim linked well with McAllister. But again his final effort was a tame strike, again straight at Poom.

In the second half, the Sky Blues grew in confidence, as their did their vocal following, with the realisation there was little threat to their back-line.

The away fans raised the volume as their team raised the pace, only for a small contingent of home fans to embarrass the Wearside faithful with some disgraceful racist chanting in response to the noisy barracking from the 750-strong Coventry contingent.

On the pitch Sunderland were fortunate to see two late chances for the visitors go begging. Black Cats substitute Joachim Bjorklund fouled namesake Julian on the edge of the box after 83 minutes to earn the Swede a booking.

Up stepped Moroccan Yousef Saffri to curl an effort which crashed off Poom's crossbar before eventually being hacked away by Darren Williams.

Four minutes later and Steve Staunton picked up possession on the left of the Black Cats' box and put in a trademark cross which found the unmarked Joachim. With the Coventry bench ready to celebrate the winner, the diminutive striker somehow glanced a header wide of the goal.

"It was probably our worst performance of the season, definitely our worst at home," was McCarthy's honest verdict and one most certainly shared by 27,000 Sunderland fans, who sent the team off the pitch with a chorus of boos.

Result: Sunderland 0 Coventry City 0.

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