And, right on cue, up popped Adam Johnson to fire in a gorgeous equaliser to keep unconvincing Manchester City on track for a top four finish.
The City winger is a self-confessed Sunderland fan and a large swathe of one end of the Stadium of Light was made up of his family and friends, decked in red and white scarves.
They must have been in a quandary when Johnson, still hopeful of a surprise place in Fabio Capello's World Cup squad, weighed up his options as the game moved into added time.
City had been denied by an inspired Craig Gordon as they stepped up their hunt for an equaliser in the second-half, the goalkeeper thwarting them at every turn.
It needed something special to beat Gordon, and Johnson provided it.
Spotting a chink of light through a crowded goalmouth, he curled the ball perfectly into it.
Mancini seemingly cannot resist chucking in a little change to his team, even after a win away to the league leaders in the last game.
This was not such a huge surprise though, as the Italian showed there is no great problem between him and Shaun Wright-Phillips by selecting him ahead of Adam Johnson. It looked a sound selection.
Sunderland are vulnerable in the full-back positions with Alan Hutton too adventurous on one side and Anton Ferdinand filling in on the other.
With Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong and Pablo Zabaleta again forming a formidable midfield trio, the plan was clearly to get at the Black Cats down the flanks.
The defence was also left intact from the Stamford Bridge triumph, with skipper Kolo Toure left on the bench after recovering from injury.
In the first-half, quite simply, it looked like the manager had got it hopelessly wrong.
Anonymous City
Bellamy and Wright-Phillips were anonymous and it was Sunderland who found space on the flanks - and when they couldn't go round that midfield trio, they simply went over them.
Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent were a big handful and when Steed Malbranque slung over a cross in the ninth minute, Jones got ahead of Kompany and headed the home side into a deserved lead.
The travelling City fans looked for a strong response from their team, but they got nothing.
Even Carlos Tevez was subdued. The man who stepped off the plane to inspire a revival at Stamford Bridge looked for long spells like he wished he'd stayed on board the flight in from Buenos Aires earlier this week.
He cut an isolated figure and when Roque Santa Cruz replaced the injured Wayne Bridge just after the half-hour mark, he receded further into the background.
Most disappointing was the shortage of endeavour for the first 45 minutes when Sunderland played like a side scrapping for their lives.
City looked anything but a team fighting for the glory of the club's first foray into the Champions League.
It had to change, and it did.
The Blues came out in the second-half sharper and a yard faster and in the space of three minutes fashioned three good chances.
Tevez, suddenly alive, nipped the first one into the path of Santa Cruz but with just keeper Craig Gordon to beat, he perhaps lacked the match sharpness needed to convert it.
Then, moments later, Barry reversed a clever pass for Wright-Phillips in a situation he usually relishes.
He closed in on the right side of goal again with just Gordon in the way.
He fired his shot at the near post, but Gordon stuck out a foot to deny him.
Bellamy was next, finding a yard on the left flank and, and when his attempted cross screwed off his foot towards goal Gordon again reacted sharply to beat it away.
It began to feel like City would need a lucky break to get anything out of the game.
Bellamy drive
But when you need some luck, the last thing you want is 11 Black Cats in your way, and a Scouser in black officiating.
It looked like the good fortune might just happen as Bellamy tried to storm away, and two Sunderland defenders tripped over each other.
Remarkably, referee Chris Foy blew up for a foul by Bellamy, a dreadful decision, and the type on which games can turn.
When the Blues opened Sunderland up again, there was the keeper once more, standing firm.
Bellamy's cross from the right found Tevez, and his close range shot was blocked by the Scots keeper, with sub Patrick Vieira unable to turn in the rebound.
Gordon was in one of those moods. With ten minutes left, Vieira sent Bellamy haring clear of Hutton, but again the keeper stuck out a leg to keep out his shot.
From the resulting corner, he was on hand to block as Joleon Lescott tried to turn the ball in from close range.
When he again kept out Bellamy from Vieira's chest-down, it looked like the game was up.
But when Adam Johnson popped up on the right, as the game moved into added time, there was still some drama left.
He stepped inside, measured his shot and curled it into the far corner.
And not even the inspired Gordon could stop the winger's superb shot this time.
What do you think? Have your say.
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Blue Jazzman, Marple (15/03/2010 at 10:08)
And whilst, this may seem a strange conclusion to come to after what seems like two points dropped at Sunderland, I can see what he is trying to achieve and I can see that what is preventing him achieving it is an inability by too many player to listen and learn and make correct decisions under pressure
Yesterday’s 1st half failings could be put down allowing the SAFC strikers to panic our defence into hoofing long balls to Tevez instead of passing out of defence. In the second half with no Kenwynne Jones, that pressure wasn’t there and we had all the possession we needed to win by a bagful, but the decision making by our front men, SWP, Bellamy and Santa Cruz, in particular, was woeful, shooting from acute angles rather than finding spare men in the box, making Gordon look better than he is.
Had this not been so, Tevez could have had a hat trick
I feel that some players have learnt and listened and acted accordingly and are thriving under RM
VK, Lescott, Zab, Barry, NDJ, (Adam J will do but it is a bit early to call)
What do these guys have in common – They are all intelligent
Of the others, Bellamy, Ireland, SWP, Richards, what do they have in common – well it isn’t intelligence, is it? (and they all think they are better than they are)
Don’t get me wrong I love having Bellers on our side, but he is a maverick and with the brief Mancini has, he needs players with composure who can think as well as play and can follow instruction
Viera is clearly not a long term option, but his brief appearance yesterday, showed how much we need a box to box player of his style and ability, but about 10 years younger and twice as fast
When we equalised yesterday, RM was furious with his players for celebrating instead of using every remaining second to go for a winner - I liked that
I want to see Mancini given the chance, in the close season, to build the squad around intelligent players who can follow instructions. This man is a winner but too many of the players lack a brain
Factilicious, looking at what`s in front of me (15/03/2010 at 10:14)
mike parker (15/03/2010 at 10:26)
City Tom in the Dam (15/03/2010 at 10:37)
Happy To Be Blue, Manchester (15/03/2010 at 10:38)
Dukinfield Blue, Manchester (15/03/2010 at 10:45)
I, Like everybody else, was impressed with his Inter Milan record, but how good is Italian football anyway? - its slow, ponderous and technical, when everybody else is slow ponderous and technical its ok, because as long as your players are more technically adept than the opposition, you will win most of your games. However, we are not playing in the Italian league (As Utd showed in the Champs league the other night v AC) but Mancini is trying to get us to play this slow, Technical game and its not right for the league we play in, we dont have the players to play that game (for god sakes Sheikh Mansour, please dont let Mancini bring in players from Italy, In my opinion, not one anywhere would improve us)and we dont have that mentality. Finaly, does anybody want to watch that sort of rubbish anyway?, crowds are falling away in Italy, the game is crap and nobody but the diehards want to watch it. I want to watch exciting flowing football and the one person I truly believe would be the only man to bring us that would be Arsene Wenger. His Arsenal side are a delight to watch, young, adventurous and bold, I hope they are the ones to beat Utd to the title and not Chelski. Please, Please, Please Sheikh Mansour, offer Wenger a kings ransom to come to City, use all your powers of persuasion to convince Wenger that he can do great things at your club and offer him complete control over all football matters including youth development. Everything is now in place structrally for us to really hit the heights except having the coach with the foresight to take us there - Get Wenger and the jigsaw will be complete.
Jeff Lebowski (15/03/2010 at 10:55)
Drew Peacock (15/03/2010 at 10:58)
I am reading from pundits that Sunderland dropped two points, this is a load of b*ll*cks and being written because of when the equalizer came. It might have been a different story if Jones stayed on the pitch for them because they did not have an out ball in the second half but Sunderland was lucky to keep us out as long as they did and in the end we was unlucky not to come away with 3 points (though I would have never believed it after the first half)
expatblue , Australia (15/03/2010 at 10:58)
dingdongbell, north (15/03/2010 at 11:12)
Gaz M (15/03/2010 at 11:26)
Talk of 'passion' needs tempering too. There wasn't a lack of effort in the first half, it's just that we're still the type of side that teams like Sunderland see as 'there for the taking' and will spend the first half an hour getting in our faces. We're going to come up against teams like this, particularly away from home until we become established as a top side. The reason why United and Chelsea are much more comfortable against sides like Sunderland and Stoke is because they're allowed to play the ball up to the D before any meaningful pressure on the ball, and they'll only defend the last two passes with any intensity. Against City, Villa, Spurs and - to an extent - Arsenal they'll scrap for it all over the pitch. It takes a long time at the top before you earn the respect that gives you that time on the ball.
Mancini did well though, each substitution increasingly outflanked the opposition and we could have got all three, but a draw isn't a bad result in Sunderland.
One more note on the first half though - Given's distribution was apalling. Someone needs to tell him to calm down when the ball is in his hands - especially when we're under a bit of pressure.
TheCat, Manchester (15/03/2010 at 11:32)
Dukinfield Blue, Wenger? Really? Hasn't won a trophy in five years in what has essentially been a closed-shop-four-horse-race. Has taken the same period of time to get close to re-building anything resembling the "winning mentality" that great sides have only to once again capitulate against Chelsea and Utd - and put money on it - over the final ten games of this season. What makes you think he'd instill it here any quicker? Has consistently failed to address the weaknesses in his squad as he doesn't like spending money - wouldn't inherit players capable of "playing his way" - has consistently rejected overtones from Real Madrid - wouldn't be interested in the project as he is settled at Arsenal...
They do play "pretty" football though.
Cypriat blue, Cyprus (15/03/2010 at 11:39)
bubba, cleethorpes (15/03/2010 at 11:42)
Portsmouth Blue (15/03/2010 at 12:08)
15/03/2010 at 10:08
I agree you make some very valid points.
The Insider, CTID. (15/03/2010 at 12:16)
Factilicious, looking at what`s in front of me (15/03/2010 at 12:20)
Pivo, Manchester (15/03/2010 at 12:23)
Considering we had sub-par performances from a number of players - Tevez, SWP, De Jong and Richards - we had strong performances from Zabaleta and Barry, who both showed their versatility and their lung power getting around the pitch. Barry in particular may not be a flamboyant player but the unseen work he does for the team is tremendous. Even RSC contributed, he held the ball up and layed it off well, and his little flick on's were quite effective. Ackowledging the fact he's been involved in so few games this season I thought RSC did ok. We seemed to lack a bit of composure in and around their area at times when maybe a ball should have been given to a better placed player, but we eventually salvaged a draw after a terrible start. This is a game we would have lost in previous seasons so progress is being made.
Stuart - Johnson isn't a self-confessed Sunderland fan, he's been quoted as saying, "I wouldn't say I followed one team specifically."
Mark Hempstead (15/03/2010 at 12:45)
I'm still on the fence regarding RM, I'm not so sure bringing in Italian players will help. History has shown that they generally struggle to adapt to our game here in England.
Richards should just admit once and for all that he's actually a track athlete masquerading as a footballer and then do us all a favour and go for a run somewhere.
PJS, Oz (15/03/2010 at 13:09)
Here's news to some of you, seriously sounds like you've been watching the English Premier League for the last 5 yrs, and following City for even less. The pace of the Premier League isnt despite the foreign managers in the game, its because of them. The "crap" midtable and bottom sides have to try to compete, so what becomes overly physical and reactive football has become a function of these crap teams trying to keep up. All the good teams: Chelsea, rags, Arsenal etc, dont play at 200mph for 90 mins, they can control games because they have good players in all positions and have the composure to change gears during a game. That's what their winning managers have instilled, and that's what Mancini is doing at City.
Now also seems a lot on here have amnesia, because having watched almost every game we played under Hughes, the one thing i will say, especially in our away games under him, was that we never pressed and most times we played static football (when in posession), many games like statues as if waiting for someone to do something. To say Mancini has come in and decided to play slower is just utter garbage. I still think we can press more, and move the ball around quicker, but our players dont have the ability to pass around with high pressing lines. The worst offender is Given who's distribution is crap and freaks out like a little girl at the first sight of a defender charging at him. His poor kick under pressure indirectly led to their goal.
Listen to Mancini's post match interviews, comments like "we started too slow"; "we moved too slow"; "we passed too slow". NO translator required. What does that mean? That Mancini sent his players out deliberately and told to play at snail pace? Clearly a lot of the players arent up to it, especially the likes of SWP and Micah who looked hungover from their trip to Miami.
The only slow thing is the players, and no i dont mean the pace at which they play. I mean "slow" as in they have small footballing brains, lack motivation and hunger and pretty much a bunch of losers.
Dave Aimson (15/03/2010 at 13:11)
When you watch Man U and Chelsea in particular, the passing is so intelligent and crafty that you can only conclude that the players are on a different level.
We will only prevail if we can develop this kind of skill - getting the ball across with a bit of quality on it!
RM seems to be getting more out of the defence but I can't help thinking the squad is far from CL quarter-final standard yet.
Fans should be patient and realistic.
mr bump, badlands (15/03/2010 at 13:16)
Whilst one could question the way we were set up yesterday and why we started so slowly (once more) it is apparent we are a seriously decent side when we want to be. No side in the history of football have been consistently good after such a change of status as we have had with the takeover. The manager made some decent subs and is not afraid of early changes which is good. he needs some luck like the rest of us. Frankly we could easily have put 5 past them yesterday but as i keep saying we have no divine right to paste lesser teams every week. The next few weeks will be frustrating and enjoyable i'm sure. We may miss out on 4th and we may not. What should be a given is that every city fan make the most of the opportunity and make some noise at home games. We can do our bit.
mcfc fallowfield, manchester (15/03/2010 at 13:30)
trevels1968 , Failsworth (15/03/2010 at 14:04)
It's no use raising your game aginst the top teams when you keep losing points aganst lesser teams.
Sunderland, a point gained or two points lost?
No mention of the equaliser being in "Fergie time", from a fluke cross cum shot!
kevcat, Dublin (15/03/2010 at 14:09)