Reid men are denied as James blunders

David James last night came close to undoing all the good work that has seen him rebuild his reputation and establish himself as arguably England's No.1 goalkeeper.

Whether it was flapping at crosses, miskicking routine clearances or fumbling soft shots, James showed the repertoire of mistakes that eventually led to him being hounded out of Liverpool.

Sven Goran Eriksson was at the Stadium of Light but, fortunately for James, the goalkeeper's last and potentially most grave error did not prove as damaging to Villa's prospects as it could and should have been. Two minutes of stoppage time at the end of the second half had elapsed when James, in typically cavalier fashion, left his line in an attempt to catch a Gavin McCann corner.

But James was blocked by team-mate Ian Taylor and, as the goalkeeper lay helpless on the ground, Danny Dichio hooked Jody Craddock's knock-down into the roof of the net.

Sunderland's celebrations were cut short by Stephen Lodge's decision to penalise the home side for a foul on James, even though he had clearly collided with his own player. James said: 'I went for the ball and I was obstructed. Sunderland said it was one of our players but I don't know.

'It was an eventful game for me. I made a mistake from a Gareth Barry back pass and I won't make excuses. If Eriksson turned up 20 minutes into the game I don't mind!' Sunderland manager Peter Reid said: 'I thought it was a good goal and we have possibly lost a couple of points. But I'm not going to criticise anybody because people will think I'm a moaner.'

His Villa counterpart John Gregory added: 'I would have been disappointed if that had been scrubbed off against us.'