Katy Watson’s early volley was cancelled out by an Oona Sevenius strike from distance.
Dropping points on Wearside has dented Newcastle’s promotion push, and with Crystal Palace beating top of the league Charlton, there is a worry it may quickly get away from them in the final weeks of the season.
Both teams opted for one change ahead of kick off with Shania Hayles returning to the starting lineup for Newcastle, while the Black Cats handed Chloe Paxton her senior debut.
A cagey first few minutes began to settle into a rhythm of Geordie possession followed by Mackem counter attack, with Tanya Oxtoby’s side keen to be on the front foot.
But after 16 minutes, they were behind as Marissa Sheva was fed through on the left and her whipped cross was guided home by Watson.
As derbies tend to go, the majority of the first half was a cagey affair with few chances of quality as the home side were able to
Newcastle forced a handful of corners, but Molly Pike was unable to find a meaningful connection with a black and white head and they all amounted to nothing.
The second half could have been remembered for more than just the Newcastle revival.
In a bizarre twist, memories of Darren Bent vs Liverpool in 2009 came flooding back as a large plastic bag blew onto the pitch with around 25 minutes to go. It startled Demi Lambourne between the sticks for Sunderland who scrambled to get it out of her way as a ball came in from Newcastle. The referee paused the game when the ball went out to have it removed, to spare everyone’s blushes.
Newcastle thought they had found a reprieve when Emily Murphy poked home from close range after Beth Lumsden’s shot was blocked following a lovely passage of play down the right. But the assistant’s flag went up to cut short celebrations.
But celebrations were not far off.
Substitute Sevenius latched onto the ball from outside the box and her strike was low and hard, beating Lambourne and finally giving the away end something to make noise about.
It raised the decibels and temperature in the stadium for the final 10 minutes.
A nasty looking clash in added forced Mared Griffiths off and added to the torment of both sets of supporters in the crowd who were now willing for a win.
Neither set of supporters could be happy with the result in the end, but a hard fought 1-1 draw was probably the fairest result.
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Sunderland XI: D. Lambourne, K. Watson (J. Finn – 85’), E. Dale, K. Kitching (E. Scarr – 67’), J. Brown, N. Fenton (L. McInnes – 85’), M. Sheva, C. Hamilton, M. Griffiths (E. Jones – 90+3), B. Westrup (C), C. Paxton
Unused subs: J. Blench, E. Bewicke, R. Blades, N. Dunbar
Newcastle XI: A. Tamminen, C. Wardlaw (K. Torpey – 45’), J. Nobbs, J. Purfield (O. Sevenius – 66’), E. Kelly (M. Gautrat – 82’), S. Hayles (B. Lumsden – 66’), M. Pike, F. Gregory, D. Cooper, A. Mannion (C), E. Murphy
Unused subs: C. Moan, D. Stokes, M. Grec, J. McQuade, L. Joel