SUNDERLAND  - Fraizer Campbell brought an end to 17 months of injury frustration in fairytale style as Sunderland came from behind to earn an FA Cup fourth round replay with a 1-1 draw against north-east rivals Middlesbrough at the Stadium of Light here on Sunday.
The Black Cats forward, who has bravely battled back from two career-threatening cruciate knee ligament problems, made a dream return, scoring within 15 minutes of his first appearance since August 2010, and his previous goal having arrived almost two years ago. In a predictably feisty derby, Championship promotion-chasing Middlesbrough stunned their Premier League hosts by breaking the deadlock midway through the first-half.
However, they were pegged back by former Manchester United forward Campbell, a half-time substitute for England Under-21 striker Connor Wickham.  He produced a cool first-time finish to beat Danny Coyne from 10 yards, after running onto a perfect 59th-minute through-ball from James McClean, who pounced on an errant pass from Barry Robson, the Scotland international who had given Middlesbrough an early lead.
Middlesbrough had more than held their own when Robson broke the deadlock in the 16th minute with his eighth goal of the season.  He latched onto John O'Shea's weak clearing header from a Faris Haroun cross, showing impeccable technique to volley left-footed past unsighted goalkeeper Simon Mignolet into the bottom corner from 18 yards. Martin O'Neill's side eventually began to stamp their authority on the tie, the impressive McClean twice going close in the space of 60 seconds. The young Irishman first saw his shot blocked by Coyne after he had been released by a Wickham flick, then heading straight at the keeper when he should have done better from a David Vaughan cross. Sunderland felt they should have gone in on level terms when, shortly before the interval.