FLEETWOOD

JON McLaughlin earned a piece of history and then stressed Sunderland can “dominate” League One.

When McLaughlin saved a penalty from Paddy Madden in the 49th minute, it was the first spot-kick a Sunderland goalkeeper had kept out at home since 1989, the last being Tony Norman at Roker Park before the Black Cats moved to the Stadium of Light in 1997.

The save secured a point for a Sunderland team who are unbeaten after seven games – despite still struggling with slow starts – and conceded first on Saturday after suffering some sloppy defensive moments.

McLaughlin said: “We are still unbeaten. There are positives. We need to work on the factors that are keeping us back.

“We are at the sharp end of the division. Not many teams will be in this position knowing they have so much left in the tank. Peterborough, Fleetwood and others are all performing at their top level from the start.

“If we get ourselves going week in, week out and stamping our authority on teams, then we should really dominate this division.

“We started poorly, a set-piece that put us on the back foot. That has been our Achilles heel. We are not too disappointed, but we want to win every game here.”

Madden put Joey Barton’s Fleetwood ahead after nine minutes before Josh Maja equalised with his fifth goal of the season in the 38th minute.