THE weeks may come and go, but Sunderland's inability to win on their travels remains resolutely unchanged.

Despite playing against a Blackburn side comprising only ten men for the whole of the second half, the Black Cats were unable to record their opening away win of the campaign.

They have now achieved just one success from 22 matches since winning at Bolton on the opening weekend of last season, and their wretched away form threatens to prevent them making the kind of progress up the league they are hoping to achieve this term. There is little point heading into Europe if they can't cure their travel sickness in England first.

The 45th-minute dismissal of Chris Samba for a professional foul on Danny Welbeck should have smoothed their passage to three points yesterday evening, but instead it merely accentuated the sense of frustration that accompanied a dour goalless draw.

Darren Bent wasted a decent opportunity in each half, but Sunderland rarely looked like breaking down an obdurate Blackburn rearguard that coped admirably with the loss of its leader.

Steve Bruce has assembled a diligent, hard-working unit that has lost just once in the Premier League all season. But as a run of five successive draws proves, it is not yet one that has mastered the art of winning tight matches. As ever, locating an alternative goalscorer to Bent would be a start.

Bruce again opted to name Bent as a lone striker last night, a decision that ensured the continued presence of record signing Asamoah Gyan on the bench, and the Black Cats boss also preferred Simon Mignolet to a fit-again Craig Gordon.

Goalkeepers tend to be pivotal figures at Ewood Park, such is the priority that Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce places on set-pieces and long balls out of defence, and true to form, Mignolet was forced into a succession of punches, catches and scrambled clearances from the off.

He coped relatively successfully, although he was almost caught out by the 16th-minute free-kick from Morten Gamst Pedersen that had him scrambling to tip the ball over the crossbar.

That was the only opportunity at either end in the opening 25 minutes, with the marked contrast in the two sides' playing styles providing the only real interest of note.

While Rovers were muscular and direct, Sunderland's five-man midfield relied on their pace, movement and precision to create openings.

The interplay between Steed Malbranque and Jordan Henderson was particularly easy on the eye, with Danny Welbeck and Ahmed Elmohamady providing natural width to stretch the home side's defence. Too often, though, Elmohamady's final ball failed to match the promise of his earlier approach play.

Yet for all of Sunderland's intricate passing, it was ironic that their best chance of the opening period came from an Allardyce-esque long ball out of defence.

Lee Cattermole played it, Gael Givet made a complete hash of heading clear, and Bent was afforded a clear run on goal.

He looked odds-on to score, but rolled a weak effort into the legs of former England international Paul Robinson. On a night that was never going to feature a plethora of clear-cut chances, it was a particularly profligate miss.

Thankfully, for the visitors, Nikola Kalinic was no more clinical at the other end, wasting two decent first-half opportunities by heading first at Mignolet and then well wide of the right-hand upright.

Both chances came from crosses from El-Hadji Diouf, a pantomime villain in the eyes of the Sunderland fans thanks to the acrimonious end to his seven-month spell at the Stadium of Light, and a player who was fortunate to avoid censure when he raised his hands to Phil Bardsley. Clearly, this particular leopard is incapable of changing his spots.

Referee Lee Probert chose to lecture Diouf rather than book him, but he was rather less reticent about reaching his for his card on the stroke of half-time. And this time, the colour was red.

Samba miscontrolled a square ball from Martin Olsson, enabling Welbeck to steal ahead of him and edge towards goal. Samba bundled Welbeck over as he was about to enter the area, and after consulting with his assistant, Probert dismissed him for a professional foul. Given the lack of a covering defender, it was the right call.

Furnished with an extra man, Sunderland should have spent the second half stretching the game in order to make their numerical advantage count.

Bent wasted a decent opening within eight minutes of the restart, heading wide at the near post after Elmohamady finally found his crossing range, but too much of the visitors' passing occurred in front of the Blackburn back four. As a result, for large spells of a surprisingly uneventful second period, it was difficult to detect that it was 11 versus ten.

The 64th-minute introduction of Gyan was an attempt to add some urgency – particularly as it involved the departure of a defender, Nedum Onuoha – but still Sunderland struggled to make a breakthrough.

Malbranque floated a long-range effort over the crossbar after Robinson vacated his goalmouth in order to challenge Bent, but it was the 83rd minute until the Rovers goalkeeper was forced to make his first second-half save of note, turning Gyan's low strike around the upright.

Indeed, former Sunderland loanee Benjani almost sprung a surprise at the other end late on, shooting over from ten yards after swivelling inside the box.