Blackburn striker Jason Roberts passed up a glorious opportunity to hand Sam Allardyce a second successive victory with a glaring last-gasp miss in the 0-0 draw at Sunderland.
Roberts stabbed the ball wide of the post with goalkeeper Marton Fulop for once beaten two minutes into stoppage-time as two precious points squirmed from Rovers' grasp.
Fulop had earlier tipped a 54th-minute Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kick against the post, and then blocked Keith Andrews' effort after the midfielder burst through on the hour.
Ricky Sbragia's men were indebted to their goalkeeper, as well as Roberts, as they misfired at the other end on a frustrating afternoon for a Boxing Day crowd of 44,680 at the Stadium of Light.
Full-back Phil Bardsley came closest to scoring for the Black Cats with a curling 28th-minute shot as in-from strikers Djibril Cisse and Kenwyne Jones were strangely out of sorts.
Having guided his side to a 4-0 victory over West Brom and a 4-1 win at Hull in his last two games, Sbragia was at pains to stress that a repeat was unlikely this time around, and his warning proved well founded during the opening 45 minutes.
The Scot, of course, spent three-and-a-half years working under Allardyce at Bolton and knew whatever else the former Black Cats defender and coach had managed to do in his first week or so at Ewood Park, he would have his team well organised.
What progressive football there was in the first half came from Sunderland, although with Cisse struggling to stay onside and Jones having a battle on his hands with Christopher Samba and Ryan Nelsen, clear-cut chances were at a premium.
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