29/01/2013 19:45 v Sunderland

The Swans picked up another useful point at Sunderland as Michael Laudrup's side kept their seventh clean sheet of their Premier League campaign.

The team with the best away defensive record in the top flight again showed their grit and steel on their travels as the visitors' goal enjoyed a relatively quiet night at the Stadium of Light.

Itay Shechter appeared to have a strong claim for a penalty in the first half, which was turned down by referee Andre Marriner, while Nathan Dyer and substitute Danny Graham had good chances in the second half to win it.

In the end, the Swans settled for a share of the spoils as they moved up to eighth with 34 points from 24 games.

After a solid start where the Swans kept Sunderland firmly at bay, it was the visitors who created the first chance after 11 minutes.

Ben Davies found Dyer down the left flank, and the winger cut inside and beat a defender before curling his effort wide with Simon Mignolet untroubled.

It came shortly after a strong penalty appeal from the visitors, with Shechter going down under a challenge from John O'Shea, but referee Marriner waved away the claim.

Dyer then latched onto a superb through ball from Michu, and when the winger's cross eventually made its way to the Spaniard via Shechter and Pablo Hernandez, his shot was deflected wide for a corner.

The Swans kept applying the pressure, and Chico Flores - following some fine trickery from the defender - was denied low down by a fine reaction from Mignolet as the keeper palmed the shot for another corner.

Michu then saw his shot deflect wide for a corner in what proved a decent first half for the visitors.

The home side lifted their game after the restart, and enjoyed the majority of possession and territory without really troubling Gerhard Tremmel.

Laudrup made a change on the hour mark, Ki Sung-Yueng replacing Shechter, which meant Michu moved up front.

Craig Gardner drove a low free-kick wide before Laudrup freshened things up with another change, Roland Lamah on for Hernandez after 67 minutes.
Sunderland also made a change, James McClean on for Alfred N'Diaye.

And Lamah almost made an instant impact as he raced into the box but Mignolet raced out to dive down and collect at the feet of the Belgian international.

Ki then drove low at Mignolet after finding himself in space some 25 yards out, and then Laudrup made his final change as Danny Graham came on for Leon Britton for the final 15 minutes.

The Swans then carved out the best chance of the game with ten minutes left as Dyer won possession inside his own half before racing on and feeding Michu inside the Sunderland box. The Spaniard cut back to Dyer, but the winger steered his effort wide from eight yards.

Then, with the final seconds of the 90 minutes left, Dwight Tiendalli outfoxed his marker before cutting inside onto his left foot but he could only steer his shot wide.

Three minutes of added on time followed, and the Swans had an even better chance to win it as Graham got onto the end of a loose ball, but his effort from eight yards was blocked out.

That was the end of the action at the Stadium of Light, and the Swans took home a hard-fought point.

SUNDERLAND: Simon Mignolet, Alfred N'Diaye (James McClean, 67), Sebastian Larsson, Craig Gardner, Jack Colback, David Vaughan, John O'Shea (capt), Titus Bramble, Adam Johnson (Connor Wickham, 84), Steven Fletcher, Stephane Sessegnon.
SUBS: Kieren Westwood, Phil Bardsley, Matt Kilgallon, Kadar Mangane, Ahmed Elmohamady.

SWANS: Gerhard Tremmel, Dwight Tiendalli, Chico Flores, Ashley Williams (capt), Ben Davies, Leon Britton (Danny Graham, 75), Jonathan de Guzman, Michu, Nathan Dyer, Pablo Hernandez (Roland Lamah, 67), Itay Shechter (Ki Sung-Yueng, 60).
SUBS: David Cornell, Angel Rangel, Kyle Bartley, Wayne Routledge.