Sunderland wrapped up their pre-season with a draw at home to Juventus, as we marked the tenth anniversary of the Stadium of Light by coming within three minutes of beating the Italian Giants this afternoon.

Roy Keane made just one change to the side that started Wednesday's 4-0 win over Galway United, with Liam Miller replacing Anthony Stokes on the right wing as his Sunderland side wore their squad numbers for the upcoming season - leaving a lot of us guessing as we tried to fill in the blanks as to who would end up with numbers 1 and 3 for the first team next season. As we pondered potential new signings, Kieran Richardson, Greg Halford, Paul McShane, Dickson Etuhu and Michael Chopra all made their first start at the Stadium of Light, while our other signing, Russell Anderson, had to make do with a place on the bench.

Sunderland started off brightly against Claudio Ranieri's side, with Greg Halford forcing Gianluigi Buffon off his line in the opening minutes to claim a wayward cross, before he had to poke out a bullet header from McShane on six minutes for a corner. From that corner kick, Sunderland took the lead, when Ross Wallace found Dickson Etuhu, whose header was spilled by Buffon, only for Daryl Murphy to tap in the rebound at the near post. After going ahead, Sunderland kept pushing forward, with Chopra almost getting a shot in on nine minutes following some good work from Miller, before Juventus got going.

Hasan Salihamidzic fired wide from 15 yards out as Juventus mustered their first shot on goal inbetween falling all over the place to gain an endless supply of free kicks, the first of which saw Pavel Nedved strike the ball from the edge of the area, only for Marton Fulop to get down well to save the shot. Tiago Mendes should have done better with his effort on 18 minutes as Sunderland weathered the storm, before we saw Etuhu head a Richardson cross wide at the other end.

Juventus came forward again, with Fulop denying Trezeguet on 22 minutes after a cross from Nedved was stopped by McShane before falling to the Frenchman, who saw his shot hit Fulop, then the bar before bobbling to safety, much like Michael Chopra saw his effort hit the bar against Bohemians a week ago. Trezeguet came close again ten minutes later as he put an effort wide, before Vincenzo Iaquinta missed a sitter as Juve tried their hardest not to score, going into the break a goal behind.

Sunderland replaced Fulop - following an impressive first half performance - with Darren Ward for the second half, and we started brightly again, with Ross Wallace forcing a corner early on, which came to nought, before Ward had to push away a free kick from Alessandro Del Piero on 53 minutes. Both sides started to make substitutions in the final half hour of the game, which helped disrupt the flow of the game, as well as confuse the scoreboard operators, who seemingly gave up confirming the Juventus changes.

Iaquinta fired high and wide on 63 minutes after disposessing Wallace, but Sunderland did try to attack again, only for Kieran Richardson to mis-read Liam Miller's trickery and allow Alessandro Birindelli to clear the ball away on 77 minutes, before substitute Russell Anderson kept Trezeguet at bay a minute later. Substitute Stern John should have made it 2-0 with five minutes to go when he blazed a Miller cross over the bar from five yards out.

Moments later, Juventus claimed the inevitable equaliser as substitute Critian Molinaro drilled an unstoppable shot past Ward from inside the area. It was a fantastic goal, which a large proportion of the Sunderland supporters cheered, but the roars would have been louder had Anthony Stokes not hit the post and found the back of the net with a shot in the final minute, but in the end both sides had to make do with a draw as Sunderland look ahead to the first game of the new Premier League season next Saturday against Spurs.

Sunderland: Fulop (sub 46, Ward), Halford (sub 85, Kay), Nosworthy (sub Varga), McShane (sub 75, Anderson), Wallace (sub 69, Collins), Miller, Whitehead (sub 60, Yorke), Etuhu (sub 60, Stokes), K Richardson, Murphy (sub 69, John), Chopra (sub 60, Connolly). Subs: Donoghue, Leadbitter.

Juventus: Buffon (sub 46, Belardi), Zebina (sub 46, Birindelli), Andrade, Grygera (sub 46, Molinaro), Chiellini (sub 74, Criscito), Salihamidzic (sub 46, Del Piero), Almiron (sub 70, Zanetti), Tiago Mendes (sub 60, Nocerino), Nedved, Iaquinta (sub 745, Palladino), Trezeguet. Subs: Vanstrattan, Novembre, Legrottaglie, Boumsong, Blasi.