by Martin Rowe
Southampton edged to Premier League safety after a 1-1 draw with Sunderland on Sunday.
The Saints, as expected under Mauricio Pochettino’s guidance, enjoyed large spells of possession but again lacked penetration.
Rickie Lambert was firstly denied before the Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet reacted well to stop Jay Rodriguez.
At the other end Adam Johnson had a a tame strike easily saved by Boruc.
The second half saw more life from Sunderland as James McClean was replaced by Connor Wickham.
But Saints were always a threat and Jay Rodriguez came close with two headers from Steven Davis corners
But with the game looking likely to end in a stalemate, Sunderland took the lead.
The Saints failed to deal with cross as the ball fell to Phil Bardsley who hit a wonderful strike past Artur Boruc.
But it didn’t take too long for the Saints to draw level – just 10 minutes later substitutes James Ward-Prowse and Jason Puncheon combined well. Ward-Prowse crossed to Puncheon who saw his initial header saved by Simon Mignolet before pouncing on the rebound to help rescue a point.
The draw leaves both still not mathematically safe with Sunderland requiring a point while the Saints will need to avoid a huge home defeat to Stoke next Sunday – providing Wigan win both of their matches.