It was a game of two penalties as one missed spot kick for Sunderland proved cruicial, as Benni McCarthy's penalty was the difference between the two sides at Ewood Park.

Roy Keane made two changes, with Andy Cole and Dickson Etuhu dropping out of the squad - Daryl Murphy replaced Cole up front, while Ross Wallace replaced Etuhu in a five man midfield. Dickson Etuhu missed out of what would have been his final game prior to his involvement in the African Cup of Nations, as Graham Kavanagh returned to our subs bench in what looked to be a squad that was down to its bare bones.

The game started off slowly in the icy winds, as Dean Whitehead's through ball to Kenwyne Jones went all the way through to the keeper in the fourth minutes, before an effort from Jones went off target on 11 minutes. A cross from Daryl Murphy a few minutes later almost gave Kenwyne another chance, with Ross Wallace doing his best to keep the ball alive. David Bentley came close with a free kick on 24 minutes following a handball by Dwight Yorke, but Sunderland were enjoying the best of the first half against a mid-table Blackburn side.

Daryl Murphy won us a corner on 37 minutes, but the set piece looked wasted as Dwight Yorke failed to get a shot on goal shortly before Kenwyne Jones came close with a low drive, before Craig Gordon gathered Morten Gamst Pedersen's cross towards the end of what was a poor first half for the home side.

Jones went off for us at half time, with Grant Leadbitter replacing him - presumably through injury, leaving us with Daryl Murphy as our lone striker. Sunderland won themselves a penalty shortly on 51 minutes when Murphy was felled by Christopher Samba, with Rob Styles sharply pointing to the spot. Dean Whitehead weakly hit the spot kick, giving Brad Friedel plenty of time to save the ball.

Blackburn themselves won a penalty a few minutes later after Samba's effort on the ball was handled in the box by Danny Higginbotham, and Benni McCarthy did the right thing with his spot kick, sending Craig Gordon the wrong way to give Blackburn the lead.

Some sloppy play from Yorke almost gifted Blackburn a second goal, as substitute Matt Derbyshire came close with a shot before Pedersen saw a free kick go just over Gordon's bar. Shortly after that, Derbyshire, who'd only just replaced Roque Santa Cruz at half time, was replaced by David Dunn.

Dwight Yorke got himself sent off with twenty minutes to go for a tackle from behind, as his poor recent form came to a head with two bookings in the space of six minutes, virtually killing off what little chance we did have of salvaging the game.

Danny Collins had to clear the danger after a long run forward by Pedersen resulted in a wasted effort from Rovers, but Sunderland were put under the cosh once again as our ten men hung on against Mark Hughes' men. Daryl Murphy almost headed Morten Gamst Pedersen's free kick into his own net on 80 minutes, but somehow "only" managed to concede a corner as Sunderland hearts stopped.

We brought on Martyn Waghorn and Andy Cole for the final moments as we threw three strikers up front in a bid to get a point, but it was Aaron Mokoena who came close to grabbing a second for Blackburn with a shot that went wide of goal, but in the end it was Blackburn who came closest to scoring again as they picked up all three points off the Lads - a result that'll send us down to the bottom three again, following Wigan's draw with Liverpool.

Sunderland: Gordon, Whitehead, McShane, Higginbotham, Collins, Miller, Yorke (OFF 71), Richardson (sub 81, Waghorn), Wallace (sub 81, Cole), Jones (sub 46, Leadbitter), Murphy. Subs: Ward, Kavanagh.

Blackburn: Friedel, Samba, Nelsen, Warnock, Mokoena, Bentley, Tugay, Pedersen, Santa Cruz (sub 46, Derbyshire, sub 69, Dunn), McCarthy, Subs: Brown, Khizanishvili, Treacy.