Battling Middlesbrough produced a remarkable second-half fightback to snatch a point from a game they looked odds-on to lose.

Terry Venables' side could have been dead and buried long before the break as Sunderland tore them apart.

But a desperate re-organisation and a huge injection of grit sparked a revival which could even have handed them a victory their fans could hardly have dreamed of in the early stages.

The Teesiders, who had Frenchman Christian Karembeu sent off five minutes from time for a second bookable offence, were indebted to keeper Mark Schwarzer for two important saves - but even he needed a hand from the woodwork to keep the Black Cats out.

Sunderland left the Riverside Stadium knowing that they could easily have taken all three points, but perhaps satisfied with one which at least keeps their European dreams alive.

But it was Boro who will perhaps have been most happy after a game - watched by England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson - which was too often low on quality, but high on passion and, as the nine bookings testified, aggression.

Venables made just one change to the side which lost 2-1 at Chelsea last weekend after defender Colin Cooper was ruled out with a hip injury.

However, Curtis Fleming recovered from a toe problem to replace the former Nottingham Forest man, with youngster Jason Gavin retaining his place in the starting line-up.

Sunderland, looking to bounce back from a 2-0 home defeat by Leeds, named an unchanged side, although Peter Reid was able to include striker Niall Quinn among his substitutes following a two-game lay-off because of a long-standing back injury.

Both Venables and Reid had signalled their intention to go out and win the game, but if one was delighted at the way his players went about the task in the opening 45 minutes, the other must have been distraught.

Sunderland took the game by the scruff of the neck from the start, and how they were not in front by the time they walked off at the break was a matter for some debate.

A combination of the woodwork, good goalkeeping and marginal inaccuracy kept the game goalless at the break and the Boro coach must have been delighted to get his men back into the dressing room not facing an uphill battle.

Gavin McCann and Stefan Schwarz took complete control in the middle of the field and with Julio Arca seemingly spare in every attack, the chances came thick and fast.

Schwarzer had to palm away a 14th-minute Don Hutchison free-kick after Gianluca Festa - who would be stretchered off three minutes later - brought down the Scottish international.

And then Kevin Phillips beat the offside trap and rounded the keeper only to shoot against the post.

Schwarz was just inches off target with a blistering free-kick on the half-hour and Boro's Australian keeper had to tip over a Phillips chip with the pressure mounting all the time.

However, the Teessiders finally rallied in the dying minutes of the half, Dean Windass and substitute Dean Gordon just failing to convert Noel Whelan's corner, although the former Coventry and Leeds midfielder wasted an even better chance in injury time when he went one-on-one with Thomas Sorensen, but could not beat the Dane.

Venables could not allow things to carry on unabated and he acted at the break by withdrawing Whelan and sending Hamilton Ricard on in his place, with Windass dropping back into a reshaped midfield and, perhaps more significantly, Paul Okon slipping into the middle of a defensive trio.

The reshuffle had an instant effect as Boro immediately looked more solid at the back and more potent in attack.

Boksic perhaps should have opened the scoring with 53 minutes gone when he hammered his shot into the side-netting after Sorensen could only parry Robbie Mustoe's stinging drive.

And Ricard did just the same three minutes later after running on to Karembeu's through-ball.

The Croatian went inches wide on 62 minutes after Karembeu and Ricard had linked well to set him up wide on the right, but the home side almost threw all their improved work away 17 minutes from time.

Sunderland, who by then had thrown Quinn into the fray, were awarded a deep free-kick, but defender Emerson Thome was not tracked as he ran in on goal and it took a point-blank save from Schwarzer to preserve his clean sheet.

Boro had a late opportunity to win it when Sorensen was penalised for collecting Michael Gray's back-pass, but Boksic could only find the defensive wall with his twice-taken effort.

The impressive Karembeu blotted his copybook five minutes from time when he got himself involved in an untidy scuffle with substitute Darren Williams and both men received yellow cards, fatally for the Frenchman.

Teams:

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Fleming (Deane 72), Vickers, Festa (Gordon 19), Karembeu, Gavin, Mustoe, Okon, Windass, Whelan (Ricard 45), Boksic.

Subs Not Used: Marinelli, Crossley.

Sent Off: Karembeu (85).

Booked: Windass, Karembeu, Gavin, Boksic, Deane.

Sunderland: Sorensen, Carteron, Thome, Craddock, Gray, Arca (Butler 81), Hutchison, McCann (Williams 78), Kilbane (Quinn 66), Schwarz, Phillips.

Subs Not Used: Macho, Varga.

Booked: McCann, Schwarz.

Att: 31,284

Ref: A D'Urso (Billericay).