Sunderland 2-2 Newcastle

Sunderland hitman Kevin Phillips struck twice to earn Peter Reid's men a point in a pulsating Tyne-Wear derby against Newcastle.

Newcastle's Frenchman Didier Domi scored his third goal of the season in the 11th minute when his surge down the right ended with a deflected shot which looped over the reach of keeper Tomas Sorensen.

Portuguese defender Helder doubled the Magpies' advantage when he headed in a cross from Kieron Dyer after 21 minutes.

But Sunderland replied just two minutes later when Niall Quinn layed off the ball path into the path of strike partner Phillips, who made no mistake from 12 yards.

Second-half pressure from the Wearsiders was rewarded with eight minutes to go, when Phillips sneaked in the six yard area to score the equaliser.

The match lived up to its high profile with two halves of differing fortunes for the respective teams.

Newcastle dominated the opening 45 minutes, and for once, the goals did not come from the prolific partnership of Alan Shearer and Duncan Ferguson.

After an explosive first 10 minutes, Ferguson's powerful header seemed goalbound, but a tip-over save from Thomas Sorensen stopped the Scot from adding to his tally for the season.

But minutes later the burly striker combined with Kieron Dyer on the right to send Domi through.

The Frenchman ran into the box and struck a deflected shot which eluded Sorensen, to give the Magpies a great start.

Bobby Robson's side looked to be in control of the match when an unlikely source popped up for the second.

Dyer was up-ended on the left after some impressive work, and from the resulting free-kick, provided on-loan centre back Helder with his first goal for the club.

Newcastle seemed to be on course to avenge their defeat by Sunderland earlier in the season, but Phillips had other plans.

Just over a minute later Quinn flicked on a ball from Chris Makin, into the path of Phillips.

The former Watford striker gratefully excepted the gift to slam the ball past keeper Steve Harper.

To make matters worse for Newcastle, full-back Italian Alessandro Pistone was taken off with a broken leg and could be out for three months.

Harper put in another fantastic display in the second half and almost kept Sunderland out for the remainder of the game.

Point-blank saves from Makin and Irishman Kevin Kilbane left the home fans frustrated.

But with eight minutes left on the clock, the roving Kilbane found Phillips with a low cross and it was left for the Premiership's top scorer to steal the headlines yet again.

Teams:

Sunderland: Sorensen, Makin, Craddock, Butler, Gray, Summerbee, McCann, Schwarz, Kilbane, Quinn, Phillips. Subs: Holloway, Marriott, Rae, Roy, Reddy.

Newcastle: Harper, Barton, Dabizas, Helder, Pistone, Dyer, Lee, Speed, Domi, Shearer, Ferguson. Subs: Given, Gavilan, Hughes, Gallacher, Antunes.

Referee: D Gallagher (Banbury)