IT should have been celebration time for Kevin Kyle on Saturday night - but things rarely go according to plan on Wearside.

The Sunderland striker had many of his Scottish family at the Stadium of Light to witness his return to action in a red and white shirt against Burnley.

But when he trudged off the pitch five minutes from time, replaced by substitute Tommy Smith, few would have believed he had finally found the back of the net for the first time in eight outings.

As he crossed the white line and headed towards his place on the bench, a shake of the head suggested exactly what he thought of the 1-1 draw with Division One also-rans Burnley.

Regardless of whether Kyle had got his name on the scoresheet, he knew Sunderland could and should have claimed all three points against Stan Ternent's side - who only had 15 fit players available for selection.

Instead Burnley struck an equaliser with 18 minutes to play through front-man Ian Moore, a strike which ensured the Black Cats dropped out of the play-off places and lost ground on leaders West Brom.

And it was a result that left Kyle - all set for a family gathering back at his Durham home - searching for the solution to Sunderland's recent run of poor form.

"The game could have ended 6-6," said the 22-year-old. "I'm disappointed again. I got the goal before half time and I was pleased to end the drought I have been going through.

"But we have failed to get the second goal which would have killed the game off and they have got the equaliser, which was a fair result.

"I'm always confident that I will score. It was always going to be a matter of time before the goals came and thankfully one has.

"But, to be honest, I would rather I hadn't scored if it would have meant we got all three points, but that's not the case.

"With the team we have got we should be trying to push on and win this league comfortably but we can't seem to do that.

"I have had a lot of family down for the weekend and it's not nice for them that I'm grumpy. I'm not happy at all."

Sunderland have only won one of their last six home matches and manager Mick McCarthy had ideas on trying to end that sequence of results.

McCarthy axed Marcus Stewart, with just two goals in 14 matches, from the starting line-up for the first time in a League game since mid-August.

Sunderland-born Michael Proctor was drafted in alongside Kyle after scoring two in the midweek reserves win over Manchester United.

The decision looked to have had a positive effect as McCarthy's men started much the better side.

But Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen was in super form, with lively Stewart Downing, Colin Healy, Proctor and Kyle all denied the opening goal before the half hour mark.

Burnley, though, had their chances too. Former Darlington striker Robbie Blake and Moore both hit the foot of the post and Sunderland's No 1 Mart Poom made an outstanding stop to push centre-back David May's header away for a corner.

However, it was Sunderland who got their noses in front when Proctor's flick on, after Darren Williams' centre, fell kindly to Kyle who made the most of a slip by May.

Kyle's left-foot strike did just enough to finally beat Jensen six minutes from the interval to put Sunderland ahead.

Once again though Sunderland failed to make the most of their slim advantage.

And, after Proctor had a goal ruled out for offside, Burnley made the home supporters restless when a loose ball was fired beyond Poom on 72 minutes.

Both Burnley and Sunderland had opportunities to snatch all three points, but Poom and Jensen were in no mood to surrender.

The best opportunity saw Stewart, on for Proctor late on, strike powerfully from 25 yards but the Danish keeper made a fantastic save high to his left.

Next come Wigan tomorrow night at the Stadium of Light and Kyle admits the promotion chase is too close to call

"Every team is as good as each other and it's really tight," said the forward, knowing that Sunderland are now six points adrift of second spot. "All it needs now is for a team to win four or five games on the bounce and they will go clear. That will be the case because all the other teams are struggling for consistency.

"It's a strange league and it's a hard league because you have to be on top of your game every week.

"You do expect to win your home games and we should be. At the start we did well to get to fourth but we are drawing too many of our home matches and doing better away.

"Hopefully we can start to put that right on Tuesday night against Wigan. We are creating plenty of chances but we have to become more ruthless in front of goal."

Result: Sunderland 1 Burnley 1.

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