Sunderland's Asamoah Gyan struck an equaliser to deny Tottenham victory in the Premier League at White Hart Lane. Spurs struggled to break through before the interval, Tom Huddlestone hitting the woodwork with a 25-yard drive. They went ahead when Gareth Bale sent over a cross and after Peter Crouch headed back across goal, Rafael Van der Vaart controlled and slammed in. Sunderland levelled when Danny Welbeck slid Gyan in to roll home and they held on comfortably for a point. It was just deserts for Steve Bruce's side for a hugely impressive rearguard performance and their ambition improved as the game went on to such an extent they could have even won it. After two defeats in a row in the Premier League either side of their stunning win over Inter Milan in the Champions League, Spurs were desperate for the three points to get their domestic campaign back on track. The return of Van der Vaart from injury was a timely boost, but the Dutchman and his team-mates found Sunderland in no mood to give them an easy ride. The visitors made six changes after their 2-0 triumph over Stoke on Saturday and the recall of keeper Craig Gordon was quickly looking like an inspired move from boss Bruce. Gordon, making his first appearance of the season, kept his side in it in the first half with fine saves to deny Luka Modric and Van der Vaart, while Huddlestone saw his ferocious drive from range take a deflection and hit the angle of post and bar. Scotland international Gordon had to be at his best to dive across his line and tip over David Bentley's 25-yard left-foot screamer, while Sunderland rarely threatened, with Kieran Richardson's shot that deflected behind off Younes Kaboul their best offering. Spurs took Roman Pavlyuchenko off at the break and sent on Crouch and they increased the tempo as Sunderland found themselves under the cosh. Van der Vaart headed an Alan Hutton cross wide when he should have done better, before Bentley was booked for diving under a challenge from Bolo Zenden inside the Black Cats area, a desperately harsh decision against the Spurs winger. After Gordon made a fine one-handed save to tip away another Van der Vaart header, Spurs got their noses in front when Bale floated over a cross and after Crouch's neat header back into the six-yard box, Van der Vaart - with his back to goal - took a touch and rifled in from close range. There were sighs of relief all around the ground, but they soon turned to groans as Sunderland capitalised on some woeful defending to hit back three minutes later. Welbeck cut in from the left and pushed a tame-looking ball forward, but Kaboul and William Gallas inexplicably let the ball roll past them and there was arch-predator Gyan to slam into the bottom corner for his fifth goal for the club. As Spurs toiled effortlessly in search of a winner, the points had to be shared. Source: BBC