Sunderland 2-2 Crystal Palace: Fabio Borini's late goal moves Black Cats out of the drop zone

Fabio Borini's late strike helped move Sunderland out of the relegation zone after a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.

The visitors appeared set to record their first Premier League win of 2016 after Connor Wickham's second-half double had cancelled out Dame N'Doye's 36th-minute opener for the hosts.

However, Sunderland's point sees them leapfrog Norwich and move up to 17th in the table, while Palace remain 14th after a club-record 11th Premier League match without a win, a run stretching back to December.

Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce made just the one change from the side that lost 1-0 at West Ham United on Saturday, with Jack Rodwell coming in for Lee Cattermole in central midfield.

Palace had winger Yannick Bolasie available for the first time since December - an absence that had coincided with the club's winless run in the Premier League - while captain Mile Jedinak was also handed a start as Alan Pardew made two alterations from the weekend loss at West Bromwich Albion.

However, in a cagey first half with few real openings it was Palace who created the first chance after 14 minutes, only for Vito Mannone to deny defender Damien Delaney with a smart near-post block.

The home team suffered a huge blow just before the half-hour mark when captain John O'Shea was forced off through injury, weakening a back line that already held the joint-worst defensive record in the Premier League heading into this contest.

And Sunderland would have almost immediately gone behind, but for a sensational one-handed stop from Mannone to prevent Scott Dann's header - following Yohan Cabaye's left-wing corner - from finding the back of the net.

That save proved to be even more important when the Black Cats took the lead nine minutes before the interval thanks to N'Doye's debut strike for the club, albeit with the aid of a big deflection off Scott Dann which wrong-footed Wayne Hennessey in the Palace goal.

Sunderland could have even doubled their advantage in first-half injury time, only for substitute Younes Kaboul to somehow miss the target from just three yards out after being found by Wahbi Khazri's inch-perfect free-kick from the left.

Palace stepped up the pace in the second period as the home faithful grew more and more agitated, and it was no great surprise when Wickham levelled matters just past the hour-mark.

The visitors' flying wingers Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha were involved in a neat interchange of passes on the edge of the box, before the ball was worked wide to Wickham.

The former Sunderland striker still had work to do, but the 22-year-old beat Mannone with a sweetly struck effort, although it again took a slight deflection off DeAndre Yedlin on its way past the Italian goalkeeper.

Just five minutes later and the Eagles were ahead as that man Wickham, who also scored twice at the Hawthorns on Saturday, volleyed home his fifth goal of the campaign from close range - making him his team's joint top scorer this season - after Cabaye's corner from the right had been headed into his path by Dann at the far post.

Those quick-fire twin strikes appeared to knock the stuffing out of Sunderland, who as a last throw of the dice opted to threw on Borini with 10 minutes to go.

And it was the Italy striker who rescued a valuable point for the home side after he somehow beat Hennessey from a seemingly impossible angle towards the right-hand corner of the box as the game moved into stoppage time.

Player ratings

Sunderland: Mannone (6), Yedlin (7), Kone (6), O'Shea (6), Van Aanholt (7), Kirchhoff (6), N'Doye (6), M'Vila (6), Rodwell (6), Khazri (7), Defoe 96)

Used subs: Cattermole (6), Borini (7), Kaboul (6)

Crystal Palace: Hennessey (6), Kelly (6), Dann (8), Delaney (7), Ward (6), Cabaye (5), Jedinak (6), Mutch (6), Zaha (8), Wickham (9), Bolasie (7)

Used subs: Adebayor (6), Sako (6), Ledley (6)

Man of the Match: Connor Wickham