“It’ll be no hardship to watch them slug it out again,” says Adrian Chiles. Damning with faint praise I think that’s called. To be fair, it was a decent game lit up by a moment of quality from Barry Robson. Sunderland didn’t do enough to win and Middlesbrough will fancy their chances in a replay.

Full-time. Sunderland 1-1 Middlesbrough.

90+4 mins. Last chance for Jutkiewicz and his cross finds Emnes, who can only head the ball across goal.

90+2 mins. Good run from Sessegnon and the ball comes out to McClean but he hits the ball into the side-netting. Should have gone across the keeper and tested him.

90 mins. Dangerous lunge from McClean after he had lost the ball. No foul given. We have four minutes of added time.

88 mins. Neither team really have any ideas at the moment. Barry Robson has been named man of the match. Fair enough, although he did lose the ball for the equaliser. Sorry for being a spoilsport.

86 mins. That’s better. McClean puts another low ball in from the left and Bates clears. Larsson’s corner is cleared and when he gets a second chance to put the ball in it is too high and goes out of play. Larsson is supposed to be good at deadballs but he’s a bit of a highlights player isn’t he? Screws it up regularly.

85 mins. In fact, it’s all quite subdued. Maybe they do want a replay.

83 mins. You would think the young keeper would be under pressure but no signs of a late charge from Sunderland yet. Comfortable for Boro.

81 mins. Coyne is off injured for Boro and Connor Ripley is on in goal instead. He’s the son of Stuart Ripley. Bloody hell, that’s depressing.

79 mins. Good football from Middlesbrough (the Premier League team are mainly playing on the break at home, strangely enough). Jutkiewicz nearly has a chance to fire home from the left channel but Larsson nicks the ball off him. Could still go either way.

77 mins. Ball comes in but someone looks at Mignolet. That’s a foul apparently.

76 mins. Corner to Boro. Dangerous. Sunderland scored from one of these.

75 mins. Another fast Sunderland break but Robson dispossesses Gardner just as he was about to pull the trigger.

73 mins. We are reaching the point when people start to claim neither manager wants a replay. Always thought it a bit odd. Teams like Sunderland hardly play in February if they are out the FA Cup.

72 mins. Campbell heads over. Good leap but unlikely to score from 12 yards out off a lofted cross like that.

69 mins. Did you notice I said Campbell would make a difference? Well, I sort of said that. Just checking.

68 mins. McClean wins another corner and Larsson swings it in from the left. Coyne gets it away but it comes back to Sessegnon on the corner of the box. He carves it over the bar.

66 mins. Another good ball in from the left by McClean for Sunderland now. There’s nothing flashy about the youngster but he is surprisingly effective.

65 mins. Haroun does well down the right and Williams strikes it cleanly on the half-volley but it is deflected for a corner. Which leads to another corner, and Emnes fires this one over when it lands at his feet 18 yards out. Good response from Boro. Decent game.

62 mins. All Sunderland now. Brown is off by the way. He hurt his knee when he landed on his shoulder. No, I don’t get it either. Michael Turner is on.

That was incisive stuff from Sunderland. Quick break down the left and James McClean slid the ball into Campbell who calmly slotted the ball to the keeper’s right from a central position. Made it look very easy.

59 mins. Goal! Sunderland 1-1 Middlesbrough. Fraizer Campbell. Brilliant counter-attack from a Middlesbrough corner.

56 mins. Wes Brown is down after falling from about 10 feet in the air. Looked painful to me but he is up. Good news because he has been very good for Sunderland this season.

55 mins. It’s a fairly even game now. Certainly not one-way traffic, by any means. Campbell looks a bit dangerous though and I recently watched Sunderland do nothing for 90 mins against both Blackburn and Man City and still win the game so who knows.

52 mins. It’s all about the free-kicks this one. Larsson whips one in from the left but it is well cleared.

50 mins. Long-range shot from Barry Robson. Turns out the strike in the first half was a one-off. Who knew?

49 mins. Stephen Cowell has been in touch on Twitter to tell me he is following the commentary. Reassuring. He also says he’s about to stop. Nice one.

48 mins. Deadball effort from Gardner sails over the bar.

47 mins. Fraizer Campbell is on for Wickham, by the way. Good move by O’Neill. I have my suspicions about Wickham. He might well be a bit shit. Probably scored lots of goals in youth football because he had his growth spurt earlier than his peers. That’s my theory.

46 mins. Second half is underway. Corner to Sunderland immediately and Coyne does well to punch the ball away from a dangerous Larsson ball in.

If you want to email me at adam.bate@fcf.co.uk or Tweet me @GhostGoal that would help reassure me I’m not the only one watching this. The second half might be really good. You never know. After all, Barry Robson scored a wonder goal in the first half.

Half-time. Upset on the cards at the Stadium of Light with Boro a goal up. I think you can call it an upset as Martin O’Neill has picked a strong side and the fans don’t like it one bit. Booed off. Maybe he’s not the Messiah?

45 mins. Couple of great chances for Boro to double their lead. Jutkiewicz had two stabs at it but the first was saved and the second went wide. Should have scored.

44 mins. Justin Hoyte booked for what Andy Townsend calls an honest challenge. It was pretty horrible.

43 mins. Emnes does really well to carve out space for Jutkiewicz but the striker dallies and is muscled out of it. Rare attack from Boro.

40 mins. It was a handball by Gardner so shouldn’t have stood anyway but I think it was disallowed for offside against Wickham, who didn’t touch the ball. ITV are going to bang on about it as a controversial incident but it was the right outcome so who cares. Sunderland putting Middlesbrough under some pressure now.

38 mins. Gardner puts the ball in the net but it’s disallowed. Not sure why yet. The assistant referee looks smug though.

36 mins. Stoppage at the moment as Williams has been accidentally headbutted in the mouth by McClean and might have lost a tooth. Unpleasant.

34 mins. Sessegnon is fouled again. I know I’m repeating myself but I wish they’d stop doing that. Instead, we are treated to another free-kick. Larsson curls the ball in from deep but it’s headed over by Wickham. Turgid stuff from Sunderland, really.

30 mins. Nothing’s happening by the way. I’m not watching the tennis.

28 mins. Another corner for Sunderland eludes everyone.

27 mins. Boro enjoying a bit of possession and seem to have ridden the storm now. Just as the away fans start to give it the ‘Ole’ chants, Emnes tries a flick and reminds us all that this is a Championship side. And they are shit.

23 mins. Good low shot by McClean in the left channel and then after the ball breaks to the right and is crossed in, McClean again has the chance but heads straight at Coyne.

21 mins. Volleyed effort from Craig Gardner goes over the bar. Not sure what to make of Gardner. This is a man who wants to leave a club because he is homesick and wants to return to Birmingham. Birmingham. A damning indictment on Sunderland, in my opinion.

19 mins. Another chance for Boro as they fire in a couple of poor efforts and the away fans get excited. The Sunderland mob aren’t enjoying it and there are a few boos aimed at Richardson when he loses the ball in his own half.

16 mins: Goal! Sunderland 0-1 Middlesbrough (Robson).  ”It’s a worldy from Barry Robson,” screams Peter Drury. Not what I expected to hear today. A left-footed volley goes flying past Mignolet.

14 mins. More Sessegnon, please. This time he is fouled by Robson quite cynically and it’s a chance for Sunderland to whip the ball in from the right….

12 mins. Sunderland dominating possession without looking like doing anything of note. McClean wins a corner by chasing a long ball and Vaughan’s ball in ricochets over the bar.

9 mins. I like Sessegnon. He’s just about the best thing going in this game. It’s a bit boring waiting for him to get the ball while the other 21 prat about with it though. Sessegnon gets it now and crosses for Larsson but he heads wide of the near post.

6 mins. Sunderland have picked a strong side and Wickham looks a handful up front. He wins another flick on but McClean can’t beat his man on the left. Is Wickham the saviour of English football? No. No, he’s not.

4 mins. Is Tony Mowbray doing a good job for Boro? Everyone seems to love him up there but they are still below Southampton in the table and they are managed by Nigel Adkins, who looks like a warped accountant. It’s all relative, surely.

3 mins. This looks like it’s going to be scrappy. Vaughan has taken a blow to the head but he looks the same I’m afraid. Shot by McDonald but it’s saved by Mignolet.

1 min. Nothing has happened yet.

I should mention that the only minute-by-minute stuff I’ve done prior to this is for Sky Sports. If you haven’t seen their live commentary, it’s basically like the BBC one: throw-in… foul… throw-in…  etc. Except with the much-needed bonus of betting tips and adverts to distract you. Using words like ‘fuck’ and ‘tits’ is frowned upon and widely considered taboo, so I might get carried away today. I probably won’t. Like people who move down to London because they ‘can do anything’ but then end up eating jaffa cakes and wanking in their own filth, I’m going to keep this very simple.

I call it a derby. Is it a derby? It’s one of those matches ITV are going to pretend is a derby and, in the process, only serve to embarrass the crowd. Newcastle v Sunderland is a derby. Middlesbrough are a bit of an after-thought aren’t they? I’ve noticed this phenomenon before. Leicester City muscling in on the Derby County and Nottingham Forest rivalry. Maybe they could pick a fight with York. Or Hull.

I’ve been drafted in to do the minute-by-minute coverage today for an (extremely) nominal fee. I have no explanation for the whereabouts of the proprietors of this site. Well, other than the fixture list obviously. And the tennis. Given it’s my debut, expect an error-strewn display full of endeavour but criminally lacking in creativity. Which reminds me – we’re here for a North East derby between Sunderland and Middlesbrough.

Teams, then:
Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, O’Shea, Brown, Richardson, Larsson, Vaughan, Gardner, McClean, Sessegnon, Wickham. Bench: Westwood, Turner, Campbell, Colback, Ji, Meyler, Elmohamady.
Middlesbrough: Coyne, Hoyte, Bates, Rhys Williams, McMahon, Hines, Haroun, Robson, McDonald, Emnes, Jutkiewicz. Bench: Ripley, Bennett, Luke Williams, Martin, Park, Main, Smallwood.