Sunderland – Birmingham City

The Stadium of Light is very far from full for the 5th round FA Cup match. Kevin Kyle and Marcus Stewart will lead the home attack while for Birmingham Mikael Forssell and Clinton Morrison are their opposite numbers. Jeff Kenna returns to the Blues line up

Birmingham kick off with Savage punting a long high ball forwrd

Nice 'triangles' from the Premiership side involving most of the midfield but Sunderland break the move down eventually

First effort on goal is from Stewart from outside the box is dragged wide

McAteer clatters into Upson as he clears his lines. Free-kick

Free-kick is cleared and there is the chance of a break for Sunderland. Plenty of space but Arca is sloppy and gives the ball away with a under hit pass

A Savage corner is cleared but returned out wide to the same man. Ball chipped to Hughes who drives into the box on the left and dinks a little pass to the near post for Morrison. It's behind him and as he attempts to hook the ball goalwards he is unable to get any power on it. Poom collects easily

Lazaridis is pulled up for a blocking foul as Sunderland look to go forward. The kick is poor and, at the second time of asking, Kyle is adjudged to be offside

A cagey opening as both teams try to feel their way into the match

Sunderland corner is played long and back as all the attention is on the near post. McAteer arrives late, in space, and cracks one from just outside the box. Comes back off a Birmingham shin and the danger is over

Savage is robbed of the ball vitually on the centre spot. Oster breakes down the left but his cross is returned to him. Twists and turns into the six yard box looking for a pass or shooting angle but the numbers of Birmingham men halts his run

Birmingham break with Gary Breen getting forward down the left. Good ball into a bdangerous area but the speed of the break means there is no one to meet it

Stewart, who has had a bright opening, is well marshalled into the corner

Lazaridis beats a couple of men out on the left wing and crosses to Morrison who can't bring it under control

A lot of space in the centre of the park means that the ball is being carried from one end to the other though there has not beeen much end product

Arca is upended about 35 yards away, out on the left. Free-kick gives a good position to deliver from

Cross is a poor one but the ref blows for a retake. The second attempt is no better

Johnson earns Birmingham a corner with a persistant run down the right flank

Corner is clear but returned to Kena on the opposite flank. Cross is whipped in but a strong header from Bjorklund averts the danger

Sunderland have probably had the best of the play so far but the match is yet to come to life

Kyle looks to release Oster down the right. Wins the race for the ball but then needlessly runs it out of play while preparing to cross

The last five minutes or so has seen a number of petty fouls from both sides

Long Poom clearance is returned in similar fashion from Upson and Morrison is flagged offside as he sets off to chase

Mix up between Savage and Lazaridis in the middle of Sunderland's half robs them of a good position from where to attack

Oster finds space behind the Blues' defence on the right. Tries to find Stewart in the middle with a square ball along the ground. The pass in underhit allowing Upson to slide in front of the striker and clear

Oster out wide on the left can't find space from which to cross. In the end lays it back for Whitley to strike but he fluffs the shot

Kyle played in behind a static Birmingham defence. Clearly offside he is flagged and then clatters into Taylor

Totally against the run of play Forsell scores a fantastic individual goal. He picks the ball up in front of goal, 10 yards outside the box and makes for the goal. No less than four Sunderland defenders watch as he breezes past them before rolling the baal back onto his right side and side footing it into the net. 1-0 Birmingham

Goal is harsh on Sunderland who have been the better team and the players look deflated

McAteer chips a long ball forward for Stewart to chase but a piece of no nonsense defending from Purse sees the ball put in row z

Stop in play as McAteer receives treatment following a foul from Cunningham

Sloppy passage of play as both teams exchange possession across the middle of the pitch

Morrison, hanging on the shoulder of the last Sunderland man is played in down the right channel. Takes one look and fires a powerful effort across the goal and narrowly wide

Oster hangs one up in the air at the back post in the Birmingham box for Kyle to go for. Birmingham double up on him and do enough to put him off

Sunderland continue to have most of the possession and press forward. Birmingham, though, are looking to exploit the space that this creates when the attack breaks down

Sunderland attack down the left with Stewart pulling wide to receive the ball. Hits the by-line and a wonderful near post cross finds Kyle. The big man stoops and directs the ball wide of the keeper's left hand. Great goal. 1-1

Sunderland break again at speed and a better ball forward from Oster would have found Stewart in acres of space. He scuffs the pass though and the opportunity is lost

Free-kick for Birmingham 25 yards out almost dead centre after Morrison is manhandled

Savage's effort is on target but with no real power. Poom palms the ball over the bar when he should have caught it

Corner is cleared and a quick break for Sunderland is on until the impressive Cunningham intervenes with a perfectly timed tackle on Stewart

Great ball from McAteer down the right wrong foots the defence and gives Wright time to weight up a cross from by the corner flag. Poor effort is cut out by Kena

One minute of added time is announced

Sunderland free-kick from within their own half is punted forward into the box. Kyle tries to just help it on to a team mate but puts too much on it and it runs to Taylor

Half-time whistle is blown. Sunderland deserve to be at least level. They have had the best of the game but without any end product until Kyle's header. Birmingham have shown little, other than a wonderful piece of individual skill.

No changes at half-time from either team

Almost straight from the off there is a spell of head tennis inside the Sunderland half.

Already Birmingham look to be more fired up and positive in their approach to the game

long ball forward from Sunderland. Kyle rises highest and nods down in the box but his teammates don't read it and Birmingham clear

Savage wins the ball in midfield and releases Forsell in space on the right. Seemingly caught in to minds he neither shoots or crosses but instead just spoons it into the path of Poom.

Sunderland in possession for a long period as the probed and looked to find the right pass. Wright joined the attack and put a perfectly weighted chiped cross to kyle at the near post. He hits a looping volley that beats Poom but not the crossbar

Sunderland are committed to passing the ball around, even playing little give and goes to get out of their own box

Under pressure Birmingham make a couple of errors in their own half. The last sees Kena miscontrol out by the right corner flag and give away a corner

Sunderland very much on top at the moment

A Forsell shot from distance is deflected off for a corner. Corner whipped in and met by Kena but he heads wide

Oster flicks a leg out and sends a high ball over the back of the Birmingham defence for Stewart to chase but Cunningham calmly heads back to his keeper

Half hearted appeal for a penalty from the Birmingham players are waved away as the referee could see that Bjorklund had not handled

Lazaridis twists and turns inside the Sunderland box. Just manages to get away a left footed cross. At the near post Morrison stoops and gets a head to it but it flashes across the face of the goal

Morrison was clearly hurt it his efforts to reach the cross and there is a delay in play while he receives treatment

Arca rides a tackle and then plays the ball wide to Stewart. His cross is a very long one and Whitley plays it back in the opposite direction to Kyle. Snap shot but he gets underneath it and the ball is skied

Morrison goes off to be replaced by Christophe Dugarry

McAteer plays a ball to Stewarts feet as he faces the wrong way on the edge of the box. Looks to then run past and receive a return. Stewart is crowded out though

Johnson makes an needless challenge as the ball is running out and gives away a foul. Lucky not to go in the referee's notebook

Kyle runs on to a ball down the right channel and has a crack without breaking stride. A clean enough strike but well wide

Gugarry's first contribution is to give the ball away in the sunderland half. Won back but then a mistake by Kenna sees the ball roll out of play. Birmingham are finding it difficult to get involved in the game

Rare Birmingham break is ended as Arca wins the race to the ball over the top with Johnson

Dugarry whips a curling cross to the back post for Forsell. Forsell tries to head back across the area but it is blocked. Some appeals for handball but the referee corectly just awards a corner

Fast break by Mccartney sees him and Stewart two against two just outside the box. Stewart receives the pass but is then fouled by Upson

Free-kick is within shooting range but the effort is weak and doesn't trouble Taylor

A heavy drizzle is making the playing surface a bit slippy and hard to play good football on

Under pressure from Whitley, Upson concedes a throw in on the right level with the six-yard box. Throw taken quickly comes to nothing

Lazaridis, under pressure from more than one defender drifts wide to the left of the Sunderland box before unleashing a powerful effort. Poom gets down well to palm the shot around his near post

Dugarry crosses from the left wing after creating the space to do so himself. Ball runs to Lazaridis who's effort is deflected for a corner

Long clearance from Taylor is returned and then follows a period of sloppy play which culminates in a foul by Kenna on the half-way line

Dugarry thows the ball down on the ground in protest at the decision. Referee books him for it

As the game approaches the last ten minutes it has gone a little flat. Sunderland are not imposing themselves as much and slowly Birmingham are creeping into it

Savage makes way for Aliou Cisse to enter the action

Nice skill from Dugarry whose turn wrong foots McCartney who ends up fouling the Frenchman as a result

Ball over the top sees Dugarry in acres of space behind the Sunderland back line. Flag stays down though replays show he was offside. It doesn't matter anyway as he fails to control the bal and it runs through to Poom

Cisse is robbed of possession in the centre of the pitch and break in numbers. Ball is played out wide to Oster who has time to shoot. His effort goes well over the bar

Cisse is given a yellow card for something he said to the referee

Sunderland attack down the left with Wright getting involved in the play. Forsell tracks all the way back to his own touchline to help out the defence

Oster recieves the ball out wide on the half-way line. He beats Lazaridis and suges forward. Long, looping cross aimed for Kyle is claimed well by Taylor

Birmingham break with Dugarry and Forsell. McAteer - still running himself ragged - gets back to make a timely intervention in his own box

A bit of handbags between Dugarry and McAteer. Referee gives them both a talking to and everyone calms down again

Two minutes of stoppage time announced

Johnson disputes an offside decision a little too aggressively for Graham Poll's liking and he becomes the latest player to be shown yellow.

Cisse slides in wildly on Arca, catching his standing leg. Play goes on but the referee returns to the player to give him his second yellow card. Cisse came on in the 80th minute, got booked in the 85th and then was sent off in stoppage time. What a contribution!

Full time whistle is blown and the game ends all square

Second half was disappointing after a promising opening period. If Sunderland where the best team in the first-half, Birmingham probably edged it towards the end. They will now go to St. Andrews to do it all again. 1-1 the final score and that is just about a fair reflection of the game. Nothing special as a game but two fantastic goals.