Enzo Le Fée scored a late penalty to rescue a point for Sunderland in a lively 1-1 draw against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
It was a moment of redemption for the midfielder, who embarrassed himself with a botched panenka on this ground last season.
Regis Le Bris’ side were comfortably beaten that day in January but here they bullishly refused to go down easily after falling behind to Vitaly Janelt’s half-volley early in the second half.
At that stage, they looked like paying the price for failing to take advantage of a first half they had dominated, a contentious and highly drawn-out VAR check chalking off a goal from Dan Ballard whilst Le Fee struck a post and Brentford clung on more by luck than by design.
Keith Andrews suffered the misfortune of losing his captain Nathan Collins inside 20 minutes, then having gone behind, gambled on three half-time changes that looked to have paid off in the shape of Janelt’s strike and three points.
Then, in the 82nd minute, substitute Wilson Isidor went down with Keane Lewis-Potter’s hands on him. A penalty was the decision and there was catharsis for Le Fee as he got it right from 12 yards.
