Coleman’s backing for his fighters

CHRIS COLEMAN did not mind Callum McManaman confronting Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis following his 96th-minute equaliser. If anything, Coleman welcomed it. ‘It’s going to be a fight for us, and if you go into a fight on your hands and knees, you are going to get kicked in the backside,’ Coleman said when asked if he had any issue with his winger’s celebration in the face of his former manager at West Brom. ‘You’ve got to stand your ground and swing back. In the last two games we’ve started swinging punches.’ McManaman used his left foot to smash in his first goal in more than three years and then used his mouth to shoot down the man he blames for his career stalling at The Hawthorns. Before McManaman intervened there had already been five goals and a pair of first-half red cards, Sunderland’s Jake Clarke-Salter dismissed for a crazy lunge on Adama Traore before the Boro winger himself was sent off for shoving Bryan Oviedo in the face. The hosts led through teenager Joel Asoro, found themselves behind when Patrick Bamford and Grant Leadbitter struck early in the second half, and were then level when Jonny Williams netted. Bamford thought he had the winner when turning in a second but McManaman had the last laugh. The draw took bottom club Sunderland to within four points of safety and Coleman said: ‘There are maybe only four teams now in our mini-league and we’ve got to top it. It’s as simple as that.’