AS far as three o’clock kick-offs on a Saturday go, this game will have been a thrilling one for the neutral to watch but for Sunderland, they felt the full force of the unpredictability of the Championship as QPR goalkeeper Seny Dieng popped up in the dying embers and scored an unlikely equaliser to deny them what would have been an outstanding win.

Dan Ballard has shown how imperious he can be in Sunderland’s opening games of the league season but he felt the true force of the Championship when Albert Adomah innocuously trodded on his ankle from a late challenge. Ballard was in obvious discomfort and was left in no state to continue the game with Alex Neil forced into an early change. Luke O’Nien took the mantle at right centre-half.

From there, the game opened up and Sunderland showed their teeth through last week’s goalscoring heroes. Alex Pritchard floated the ball to the back post for Ross Stewart who showed the awareness to nod the ball to striker partner Ellis Simms. Unfortunately, he couldn’t repeat the Ashton Gate antics as he fired a half volley straight at Seny Dieng.

The Hoops went up the other end and, just like they did at Middlesbrough, showed how they could create something out of nothing. A couple of stepovers from Olamide Shodipo opened up the space to float a cross to the back post where Adomah should have done much better with the header as he spurned the ball over the bar.

With neither side making a breakthrough, the game developed a bit of an edge with Adomah at the heart of another late tackle, Sam Field was booked for virtually a rugby tackle while Jack Clarke was penalised for a late sliding challenge. The sizeable combo of Stewart and Simms were giving the QPR defence plenty to think about.

We didn’t have to wait much longer for the opening goal of the game. Stewart kept an attack alive from a short pass and prodded the ball to Clarke on the left. He jinked inside, laid on Pritchard who then freed the back up to Dan Neil on the edge of the box. His precise shot forced Dieng into a diving save but Stewart did the rest by gobbling up the chance to give the Black Cats a well earned lead in the game.

Sunderland’s leading duo continued to cause all sorts of problems. Simms early impact has been there for all to see and he was on hand to double their lead in clinical style. After touching a long ball down to Pritchard, Stefan Johansen made up the ground on the advancing midfielder who was charging away but inadvertently played the ball into Simms from a slide tackle. The Everton loanee took one touch, shrugged off his man and buried the chance into the bottom left hand corner.

Despite a bit of late pressure from the away side, Sunderland purred their way into the end of the first half having given similar treatment to the Hoops to what they enacted on Boro last week. But could they showed the required steel to hold onto the result.

Adomah was withdrawn from the field at half-time in place of Tyler Roberts who came into the game fresh from his wondergoal against Charlton in midweek. The Leeds loanee failed to find that same inspiration when Ilias Chair cutback from the left but dragged the shot wide with the goal to aim at.

Sunderland looked to put the game into cruise control with Alex Neil reshuffling his team to bring Patrick Roberts onto the pitch. The home side were frustrating QPR to limited chances whilst waiting for the gaps to appear. P. Roberts found that open as the Black Cats broke from a broken down QPR attack. His first touch let him down in the box but he almost atoned with a bending shot that just whistled past the post.

As Sunderland legs began to tire, they paid the price in dramatic style.

Lynden Gooch brought down T. Roberts on the edge of the box as he charged away from red and white shirts. Chair took the responsibility and bent his shot over the wall and into the top right hand corner with five minutes on the clock.

QPR threw everything plus the kitchen sink with a number of late substitutes making an appearance to try and drag their side towards a point. After a brilliant save from Anthony Patterson forced the away side into a corner, the Hoops hero came through the most unlikely of sources.

Seny Dieng went up for the set piece and Sunderland through they’d done enough to clear the initial corner only for the ball to be swung back into the area and Dieng pop up ahead of the onrushing Patterson to nod into an empty net and produce a late equaliser in the most dramatic of circumstances.

It represented an extraordinary end to the game but there was almost another late twist to the tale. Stewart turned inside the box from a cross into the area, shot powerfully towards the corner forcing Dieng into a brilliant save. Elliot Embleton’s follow up from close range cannoned off the underside of the bar and out the other side as the 37,000 support collapsed back into their chairs.

The Championship throws up all sorts out unusual stories but that was one that will live in the memory of Sunderland for this season as the Championship bared it’s unpredictable colours and denied them the chance to go top of the table.