Fulham manage to earn FA Cup replay against Sunderland

Fulham fought back to earn a replay as they avoided a shock FA Cup fourth-round defeat at home to Championship play-off hopefuls Sunderland.

Jack Clarke's early goal looked to have put a youthful Black Cats side on course for a memorable win in west London, with the winger capitalising on Issa Diop's mistake to win the ball before calmly placing his effort past home goalkeeper Marek Rodak.

However, the hosts, who enjoyed the majority of possession, levelled things up just after the hour mark with captain Tom Cairney superbly evading two challenges before picking his spot in the left corner.

In a dramatic conclusion, 15-year-old Chris Rigg looked to have scored the winner for the visitors but his goal was ruled out with Abdoullah Ba off-side in the build-up, while Willian's effort for the hosts was tipped over.

Sunderland had looked capable of reaching the last 16 of the competition for the first time since 2015 - when they were a top-flight club - for much of the contest.

However, a draw was probably a fair reflection of an end-to-end encounter which saw both sides create some excellent goalscoring opportunities.

"It was a typical FA Cup match," said Fulham manager Marco Silva. "It was too open for a manager to like and we gave a goal too early. We created enough chances to score but gave them more chances than we would like."