SUNDERLAND retained their unbeaten record at the Stadium of Light in a dour battle with a Leicester side which went to the top of the Premiership for the first time in 37 years.

City, who came to Wearside with the best defensive record in the top flight, kept Sunderland at bay, and with Arsenal beating Manchester United 1-0 at Highbury, the hard-earned point was enough to take the Foxes to the top of the pile for at least a fornight, when they face the defending champions.

But it was never a classic in a game peppered with fouls and out bursts of ill-temper as neither side could break the deadlock.

Sunderland came closest to getting the goal that would probably have decided the issue midway through the second half.

Former England goalkeeper Tim Flowers made a spectacular one-handed save to keep out a close-range header from Sunderland's young Argentinian, Julio Arca, and full back Chris Makin had a couple of long-range efforts.

But goalmouth action was scarce for the 45,338 fans and they could not fail to have been impressed with the water-tight defensive performance of Leicester, with central defender Matt Elliott faultless.

Sunderland, unchanged for the third game in a row, made a bright start and were inches away from a goal in the third minute.

Leading scorer Kevin Phillips just failed to meet a right wing centre from Kevin Kilbane at the left corner of the six-yard box.

But City showed their teeth in the seventh minute when Ade Akinbiyi intercepted a back-pass from Kilbane, under pressure from Darren Eadie, and made ground rapidly before driving his low, left-foot shot wide from 20 yards.

Both teams made it clear that they would advance at every opportunity and skipper Michael Gray had to relieve pressure when he headed behind his own goal to prevent a dangerous centre from Callum Davidson reaching the danger zone.

The corner brought more problems as the wing-back fired narrowly wide through a ruck of players.

But the City goal also came under fire and Makin was disappointed with the accuracy of a powerful 20-yard left foot shot which sailed high over the bar in the 13th minute.

Flowers was the first keeper to be called into action, holding a low left- foot 20-yarder from Don Hutchison, who turned on a pass from Phillips before trying his luck.

Makin again showed his displeasure with a poor finish in the 27th minute, cutting in from the left to drive a low shot tamely wide.

Niall Quinn came in for some rough treatment in the next couple of Sunderland raids, but he got no sympathy from referee Stephen Lodge.

But the big Irishman was close to putting Sunderland ahead in the 38th minute when he chested down a centre from Makin.

He was about to strike his shot when Matt Elliott intervened with a desperate challenge to force the ball off Quinn's body right in front of goal.

There was an angry flare-up between Quinn and Taggart in the 42nd minute and both men had their names taken after squaring up to each other.

Sunderland almost broke the deadlock in the first minute of the second half when Phillips got up high to a left-wing centre from Gray and his header flashed just wide from 12 yards.

Sunderland continued to press and Flowers had to save from Hutchison and Makin, though neither shot gave him much trouble.

He had more difficulty with a glancing header from Quinn in the 52nd minute, but Sunderland were struggling to create clear-cut opportunities against a quick-challenging City defence.

Quinn and Flowers clashed in the air going for a high centre from Williams and the loose ball dropped into the keeper's hands as he lay on the ground.

City went very close to scoring in the 59th minute when Davidson centred from the left and Richard Cresswell got in a header from eight yards which brought a diving goal-line save from Thomas Sorensen - his first taste of action.

Sunderland had another escape when a Sunderland free kick was cleared on the edge of the City penalty area and Cresswell broke forward dangerously.

He showed great pace before hammering a right foot shot just wide of the angle from 20 yards.

Sunderland came agonisingly close to scoring in the 66th minute when Flowers made a tremendous one-handed save to keep out a point-blank header from Arca and the ball hit Rowett before rebounding to the keeper.

Soon afterwards the Argentinian was hurt in an accidental clash with the keeper and was replaced in the 71st minute by substitute John Oster.

City came close to scoring in the 78th minute when substitute Trevor Benjamin, on for Akinbiyi, took advantage of a mistake by Craddock to charge goalwards. Sorensen saved bravely at his feet, hurting himself in the process, though he was able to resume after treatment.