IT was another of those afternoons Sunderland fans have become accustomed to this season at the Stadium of Light. Gaps in defence, weak in attack, an over-reliance on goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and a familiar outcome.

Sunderland, despite threatening to end the afternoon hovering just below the Premier League’s top ten after Phil Bardsley had hit an undeserved 68th-minute opener, still have to be mindful of what Wigan are doing before any lingering threat of relegation has disappeared.

Rather than rest easy in the week building up to next Sunday’s final-day trip to Tottenham, an equaliser from Southampton substitute Jason Puncheon 14 minutes from time has dropped the Black Cats down a place to 17th.

Sunderland, who won just one of their last eight home games, struggled for the majority of the 90 minutes and by the time they returned to the pitch for a lap of appreciation the vast majority of Sunderland supporters had left their seats.

This was not a memorable finale, but at least in claiming a point against the Saints, Wigan must win both at Arsenal on Tuesday and then Aston Villa to stand any chance of swapping places with Paolo Di Canio’s team.

Sunderland, boasting a far superior goal difference to the Latics, should have done enough already, but Di Canio has plenty of problems to address in the summer, chiefly how to get his team scoring goals.

A dismal attacking display yesterday merely highlighted the point. With Stephane Sessegnon suspended and top-scorer Steven Fletcher sidelined, January’s £5m buy Danny Graham never looked like ending a personal drought which has now extended to more than 1,000 minutes in all competitions.

Even when Connor Wickham emerged to give him some overdue support for the second half, Sunderland only found the net because their right-back, Bardsley, found himself in space in the Southampton penalty box.

With the reward of safety dangling in front of them, Sunderland looked far from inspired to get the job done. Di Canio’s decision to revert back to the team – with the exception of Bardsley slotting in at full-back – which started the draw with Stoke a week ago led to a similarly anaemic opening.

That meant midfielder Jack Colback being asked to play wide, with James McClean and Adam Johnson providing the back-up to lone striker Graham in attack.

One of the evident things about the performance against Stoke was the way Sunderland actually improved when Gardner was red carded because there was greater balance in the team.

Johnson moved wide and Colback more central.

Yesterday saw a similar sort of display, with Graham isolated in attack. Far too often Sunderland’s spells of possession ended before the ball was at the striker’s feet.

On the occasions it eventually did, he was unable to torment Southampton’s towering defenders Jos Hooiveld and Jose Fonte.

In fact, the only time either goalkeeper was forced into any sort of save in the opening half-hour was when Mignolet got down low to his right to gather Rickie Lambert’s 25-yard effort comfortably.

Mignolet had to make a better stop shortly afterwards.

When Sunderland failed to deal with an Adam Lallana corner, Jay Rodriguez managed to get a low shot away from inside a crowded box and the Belgian keeper got down to block when he must have been unsighted. From there, Mignolet was tested regularly.

His opposite number, Artur Boruc, had a far quieter time.

His only save of the entire 90 minutes was when Johnson’s low shot was held when John O’Shea had found space at the back post to head down into his path.

The best chance of the half fell to Southampton but Lambert, who was afforded too much space in front of goal to bring down Steve Davis’ header, wasted it when his second touch was a weak volley straight at Mignolet from eight yards.

Di Canio knew something was required, so he introduced Wickham for McClean.

Wickham’s introduction meant Johnson could go out wide again and Graham had greater aerial support against Fonte and Hooiveld.

Mignolet, though, was still the busier, despite slight improvements.

He made another low save to deny Rodriguez’s downward header from Davis’ corner.

And, with frustrations growing, the same combination created a similar opening.

This time Mignolet stood tall, reached out his arms and held Rodriguez’s header from another flag-kick.

While former Celtic goalkeeper Boruc was still largely inactive, Johnson and Bardsley’s link up play down the right started to cause concern for Southampton.

And with 22 minutes remaining, the breakthrough came from that pairing.

Danny Rose’s deep cross dropped to Johnson on the edge of the area. He rolled the ball into the path of the overlapping Bardsley, whose sweet drive took a deflection before flying inside Boruc’s far post.

Sunderland should have grown in confidence after that but after Mauricio Pocchetino made a double change, his two substitutes combined to level four minutes after coming on.

James Ward-Prowse burst down the line and when Mignolet made a point-blank, one-handed save to deny Puncheon’s header, the Saints’ forward was quickest to react and volleyed the rebound high into the roof of the net.

Sunderland could easily have lost from there, and had Mignolet not produced another fine save to his right from Lambert’s half-volley, they would have done.

A point could still be crucial for Sunderland, but this was certainly not ending on a high and those who booed at the final whistle highlighted the point.