AMID all the attention that Sunderland’s unsuccessful deadline day pursuit of Leonardo Ulloa had received on Wearside, it would have been easy for disappointed supporters to have written off a game with title-chasing Tottenham as a routine away win.

But a dogged and determined Black Cats display, which actually saw them have the better of the first half, was more fruitful in attempting to boost the Premier League points tally than they were in trying to add to David Moyes’ attacking options.

Ulloa, who had signalled a wish to move to Sunderland earlier in the day and had informed the Foxes of his wish to leave, was nowhere near the Stadium of Light when the crop of players Moyes must now rely on for the rest of the campaign did a decent enough job.

Sunderland were unable to stun Tottenham by claiming the three points that would have given the fight to stay in the top-flight a timely boost after the closure of the transfer window.

They did, however, stop Harry Kane and Dele Alli in their tracks to earn a point that offered a glimmer of hope in the battle to stay up – even if Moyes could have done with someone like Ulloa to provide assistance in attack to Jermain Defoe.

Frustratingly it was a hard-earned draw which was not followed up by the results required elsewhere across the country; with rivals for relegation Crystal Palace, Swansea City and Watford all collecting wins.

Sunderland will still head to Selhurst Park to face Sam Allardyce on Saturday with a five-point deficit to chase down on the relegation zones, so defeat to an Eagles team sitting three points and a place above them is unthinkable.

It had been feared Sunderland would play poorly given the events of the final day of the window. Frustration had been in the air even before a ball had been kicked given Sunderland’s failure to persuade Leicester to do business for Ulloa.

Despite the three attempts to land the South America, Moyes was left without a new signing on deadline day. Whether or not the signatures of £7.5m pair Bryan Oviedo and Darron Gibson a day earlier, albeit too late to figure against Spurs, will have the impact required to keep Sunderland up remains to be seen. The other January recruit, Joleon Lescott, made the bench.

The Sunderland manager was at least relieved to include Lamine Kone, who Sunderland have managed to hold on to despite plenty of interest, and Didier Ndong after returns from Africa Cup of Nations duty. The pair worked tirelessly to get Sunderland over the line.

Both showed no signs of fatigue, certainly in the first half, after their Gabon adventure either, performing solidly to give Sunderland a decent enough base to build from. The return of the pair meant a five at the back system, with Fabio Borini asked to offer support to former Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe as much as he could.

The first dangerous attack, though, was from the visitors when Jason Denayer’s poor pass gifted Kane possession and Kone had to be alert to block.

Sunderland, without suspended Papy Djilobodji for four games, soon settled themselves and Tottenham’s backline had to be alert to prevent Defoe from earning the lead when he was sent wide by a clever ball over the top from Jack Rodwell.

Borini also wasted a couple of openings before Vito Mannone was asked his first question, when the Sunderland goalkeeper got down low to his right to turn away Victor Wanyama’s hopeful effort from distance.

On neither occasion did Borini trouble Michel Vorm enough, with the second of the openings the better. At least it saw the Sunderland forward shoot into Vorm’s arms, when he seemed surprised to have created the space in the Tottenham box and rushed his shot.

Sunderland, still without a win since before Christmas, made life hard for Tottenham by working hard and pressing high up the pitch. The only frustration was that plenty of possession in the final third didn’t turn into more chances.

Having started the game so promisingly the challenge was to somehow maintain those standards, while also being wary of Tottenham’s attacking riches which had not been anywhere near as threatening in the opening period as they can be.

And Tottenham showed greater impetus and intention after the restart, yet still found Sunderland in determined mood to keep them at bay. Mannone held a harmless free-kick from Christian Eriksen ten minutes in and that was the start of more chances for the visitors.

That had been earned by Dele Alli’s presence; it was indicative of Tottenham’s night up to that point that the 11-goal midfielder had done very little otherwise to concern Sunderland.

Better openings arrived for Tottenham as the minutes ticked by and Wanyama headed over from an unmarked position at the back post moments after Kyle Walker had seen a drive deflect marginally off target for a corner.

But Sunderland were not to be beaten. Eric Dier, who defended well throughout for Spurs, did head over in stoppage-time. Had that gone on in then it would have been cruel on a Sunderland team which fought hard to at least land something on deadline day: a point.

MATCH FACTS

Goals: None

Bookings: Rodwell (34, foul); Manquillo (66, foul)

Referee:  Lee Mason (Stockport) – neither set of players could argue with his major decisions, even if Rodwell was only cautioned for a foul on Dembele when the Spurs players wanted more. 7

Attendance: 40,058

Entertainment: 2/5

SUNDERLAND (5-3-2):

7 Mannone: Made the stops he had to when called upon and showed safe hands and feet throughout;

6 Jones: Defended well even if he made a couple of errors with his heading

7 Kone: Hardly looked like he had been away to frustrate the Spurs forwards   

7 O’Shea: Helped keep the defence in check and together which bodes well going forward

7 Denayer: After an early error he grew into the game and helped keep Spurs at bay

6 Manquillo: One of his better games since arriving on loan even if he could still do better going forward;

7 Rodwell: Worked hard in the middle again even if his tackle on Dembele was outrageous; rightly booked

7 NDONG: Seemed to enjoy being back in the Sunderland side after international duty and didn’t look tired either

7 Larsson: Kept going even after his clash of heads briefly threatened to end his game early;

5 Borini: Worked hard enough but things didn’t go his way from the moment he mis-controlled an early chance;

6 Defoe: Didn’t really have a chance to threaten the keeper even if he worked hard and made the right runs

Subs: Honeyman (for Borini 72). Not used: Mika (gk), Love, Lescott, Pienaar, Januzaj, Gooch.

TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Vorm 6; Walker 7, Alderweireld 6, Dier 7, Rose 6 (Davies 38, 6); Dembele 6 (Janssen 86), WANYAMA 7; Alli 5, Eriksen 6, Son 5 (Sissoko 73); Kane 5. Subs (not used): Lopez, Carter-Vickers, Wimmer, Winks.

MAN OF THE MATCH:  DIDIER Ndong – looked the part in the middle in a defensive sense and looked even brighter in the opening 45 minutes.