Sunderland Vs. Everton, 2011 Premier League: Controversial Penalty Robs Sunderland Of Win

Sunderland's improvement under Martin O'Neill continues as the Black Cats were perhaps unluck yo draw 1-1 against Everton at the Stadium of Light. The hosts put in a fairly impressive display in the first half, going ahead through Jack Colback's deflected effort which left Tim Howard completely stranded, and looked as though they were on course for an important win.

It wasn't to be - Howard Webb made sure of that. Leon Osman burst into the penalty area, skipping past a pair of Sunderland players before going down in a heap. The referee stared at the situation for a few minutes before pointing to the spot, and Leighton Baines duly lashed the penalty into the top corner. The only problem? Osman was never touched. It wasn't a dive so much as simply tripping over his own foot, but regardless, it was clearly not a penalty.

Sunderland responded fairly well to being pegged back and had a few threatening attacks in the second half, but the game ended up fairly open and Sylvain Distin wasted a great chance to wrap up what would have been a completely undeserved three points for David Moyes's men when he volleyed over from close range with the last kick of the game. Instead, it ended up 1-1 - a decent result but less than the hosts would have hoped for given the performance.