Reporting note: this article draws on Sky Sports; Score808 Live provides the summary and editorial framing.
Sunderland Lech Poznan draw leaves the visitors unbeaten but unsatisfied
The Sunderland Lech Poznan draw finished 1-1 at the INEA Stadion, and the scoreline rewards the hosts far more than the side that spent the night attacking. Timur Tutierov gave Sunderland a second-minute lead; substitute Martin Bengtsson took it away with 20 minutes left. Sunderland finished with 25 shots, 11 of them on target.
The point keeps Sunderland unbeaten in the Europa League with seven from three matches. It is also the first time in this European campaign that they have been denied a victory, and the manner of it — long spells of control without a second goal — is the part that will travel home with them.
Timur Tutierov scores the fastest goal of the Europa League season
The goal came with barely a minute gone, and it came from Sunderland's press rather than from patient build-up. Nilson Angulo's cross was headed home by the 21-year-old after Mateusz Lis's poor clearance was picked off high up the pitch.
It was Tutierov's first goal for Sunderland and only his fourth appearance for the club. He spent last season on loan in League One with Exeter and was fast-tracked into the first team after injuries to Brian Brobbey and Wilson Isidor.
That is the genuinely useful part of the night for the visitors. A squad thinned by injury found a scorer, and found him inside two minutes, which is the sort of start that usually settles a European away tie before it becomes a contest.
Chances that never became a second goal
The opening goal set the pattern. Robin Roefs had to make a double save in the third minute, spilling Patrik Walemark's shot into the path of Radoslaw Murawski and then recovering to block the follow-up. Sunderland's response was to strike the post.
Lech's clearest opening of the first half fell to Daniel Hakans, who raced through from Pablo Rodriguez's pass in behind and missed the target altogether with Roefs sprawling. A side creating that little usually loses. Lech did not, because Sunderland kept missing the chances that would have ended the contest.
- 2 minutes: Tutierov heads in Angulo's cross after Lis's clearance is picked off.
- 3 minutes: Roefs saves twice from Murawski after spilling Walemark's shot.
- 16 minutes: Hakans races through from Rodriguez's pass and misses the target.
- 21 minutes: After Granit Xhaka's shot is tipped away, Fofana strikes the outside of the far post from a tight angle.
- 70 minutes: Bengtsson equalises following a corner knock-down.
- 82 minutes: Rigg curls a 20-yard effort onto the roof of the net.
Lech Poznan find their first European goal of the season
Lech had lost both of their opening league phase matches 4-0 and had not scored in Europe this season before the equaliser. It arrived from a corner: the ball was knocked down and Bengtsson fired through a crowd of bodies, beating the unsighted Roefs at his near post.
That is the mechanism of the result, and it is worth naming precisely. Sunderland's failure was not one defensive error but an hour of unconverted chances; the punishment came from a set piece, and it arrived 20 minutes from the end, which left Sunderland time to respond but not the accuracy to do it.
Chris Rigg and the margins Sunderland could not close
Sunderland pushed for the winner. Substitute Chris Rigg curled a 20-yard effort inches over the bar in the 82nd minute, lifting it onto the roof of the net. It was the clearest of the late chances and it did not go in.
Twenty-five shots and 11 on target describe a team that created enough to win by two or three. The gap between that and a single goal is the story of the night, and it is a gap that no amount of territorial control closes on its own.
For Lech, a first point and a first goal are the returns from a league phase that had started badly. For Sunderland, seven points from three matches is a strong position and the unbeaten record is intact, but the draw is a reminder that control in Europe is worth nothing without a second goal.
The original report is available at skysports.com.
