THE ovation from the 1,537 travelling supporters for the Sunderland players following the final whistle spoke volumes.

They had precious little to shout about at Home Park and there was certainly no hint of the late drama that had lit up the Black Cats’ last two victories.

But they still generously applauded the Sunderland players as they exited and serenaded manager Alex Neil following this hard-fought goalless draw.

They had seen a side that was anything but at its best, but there was an appreciation of battling qualities that keeps the Wearsiders on course for the play-offs.

As he aimed to mastermind Sunderland’s fourth successive victory, Neil made just one change to the side which dramatically beat Shrewsbury 3-2 on Good Friday with skipper Corry Evans returning to central midfield in place of Lynden Gooch.

After an assured start, Neil’s decision to deploy a three-man defence was soon put to the test against a side clearly determined to arrest a three-match losing streak with 19-goal leading scorer Ryan Hardie back from injury.

Steven Schumacher’s side attacked with pace and purpose with on-loan Fulham winger Steven Sessegnon presenting the Devon side’s most obvious threat down the Sunderland left.

Neil’s Sunderland side is made of stern things, though, and a defence marshalled well by Bailey Wright rose to the challenge of resisting their numerous first-half advances as the lively hosts dominated the midfield exchanges.

Yet it was anything but one-way traffic and Sunderland striker Nathan Broadhead took the attack to Plymouth with a couple of surges forward which underlined the Everton loanee’s threat.

But Anthony Patterson was the first goalkeeper to be tested on 19 minutes when Sessegnon’s cut-back found Niall Ennis and his low shot from 12 yards was comfortably smothered.

It was turning into a pulsating end-to-end contest and when Elliot Embleton’s through-ball on 35 minutes sent Ross Stewart racing clear it seemed the visitors would take command but goalkeeper Michael Cooper burst of speed off his line foiled the Scottish striker.

There would have been 1,537 hearts in mouths in the end occupied by when the highly-rated Hardie lost his marker but his header missed the target by inches.

It was not until the 44th minute that Sunderland had an attempt on goal but Embleton’s curling effort was hardly worth the wait and was easily saved by Cooper.

Whatever Neil said to his players at half-time, it certainly had the desired effect as Sunderland really got going and dominated after the break and almost took the lead on 50 minutes.

A clever pass from Evans saw Broadhead drive towards goal from the left but Cooper repelled his low shot with his legs before Luke O’Nien miskicked and Jack Clarke miscued when Plymouth were there for the taking.

Sunderland were unable to tighten their grip on the game against resolute opponents who looked set to take the lead on 66 minutes when Conor Grant took aim for the edge of the box but his effort was deflected narrowly wide.

In an effort to invigorate his side, Neil rang the changes by sending on Gooch, Patrick Roberts and Dan Neil in place of O’Nien, Embleton and Jay Matete but it failed to have the desired effect as a stalemate ensued.

It was a bold move to get his side on the front foot again but the game began to lose its fluency and both sides surrendered possession all too frequently.

There was a sense of déjà vu in the closing stages and relief in the Sunderland end after Sessegnon ran rings round the left side of the visiting defence before teeing up Grant whose shot was diverted wide for a corner.

As Broadhead and Stewart ran out of steam, Sunderland never looked like ending the game on a high but now, with the play-offs now within sight, they will hopefully get a chance to put that right.