Great Dane forces Phillips out of limelight

Kevin Phillips is refusing to take another penalty after his third successive spot-kick miss denied Sunderland victory.

He again put in an outstanding all-round performance as he single-handedly tried to break through a resilient Villa defence inspired by Peter Schmeichel.

But, presented with a 15th-minute penalty after J Lloyd Samuel pushed Niall Quinn , he was denied by the superb Schmeichel.

That the brilliance of the Dane's stop had come between Phillips and his ninth of the season was no consolation to the Sunderland striker who has also missed penalties against Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday.

He said: 'As soon as I missed I decided I'm not taking any more. I will let someone else have a go.

'I have decided to take the pressure off myself, concentrate on scoring from open play and someone else can do it. I was happy with the way I struck it and it was a good save. He made the goal look so small and it was just one of those days. He made some fantastic saves. I can't buy a goal at the moment.' For Peter Reid it was a much-improved display from a side which had been starting to lose its way.

It will be scant consolation to the Sunderland manager, who bravely decided to stick with the 11 who folded at Portman Road, that his side outplayed a team two points ahead of them.

It needed a late equaliser from Emerson Thome, scoring only his second Sunder-land goal, to rescue a point.