Sunderland unable to start life in the Championship with a win as they fight back to draw with Derby

Sunderland 1 Derby 1: The home side fell behind when Bradley Johnson fired home, but summer signing Lewis Grabban rescued a point from the penalty spot

Sunderland started life in the Championship with a point (Getty)

Sunderland were unable to start life back in the Championship with a victory but they showed the fight Darron Gibson that had questioned after being rocked by an early goal from Derby County.

The build-up to the Black Cats' opening game of the season had started with a 5-0 drubbing by Celtic and an apparently drunken post-match outburst when Gibson told angry supporters too many of his team-mates did not care about playing for the club.

And although the side which finished bottom of last season's Premier League continued an opening-day winless streak which stretches back to 2010, they gave as good as they got in a 1-1 draw where both sides had chances to win it.

Lewis Grabban hit the upright for Sunderland and centre-forwards James Vaughan and Chris Martin missed glorious second-half chances for either side.

Derby had the better of the second half but they too are slow starters, having only scored once in their opening seven matches of last season.

It was the hosts who made the early running in front of a passionate but disappointing crowd of just 29,578.Vaughan flicking an Aiden McGeady free-kick off target, and Andre Wisdom forced into a good block when the latter threaten to find the net from George Honeyman's misdirected shot.

Derby took the lead against Sunderland (Getty)

Within seconds of that close shave, Derby scored from their first effort of the match.

Brendan Galloway, one of six debutants in the home line-up was easily beaten by Johnny Russell and his cross from the right byline deflected into the path of the unmarked Bradley Johnson, who scored the first goal of the new Football League season after 11 minutes.

The Sunderland of last season tended to wilt in such circumstances, and they did wobble at the blow. When Jason Steele saved Tom Huddlestone's long-range effort after 20 minutes he was thankful to Tyias Browning for the pressure which stopped Martin snaffling the rebound.

The Black Cats regained their composure, and Trevor Carson was forced into a stunning save when Lee Cattermole volleyed with the outside of his right boot after 24 minutes.

Grabban scored an equaliser from the spot (Getty)

As half-time approached it seemed the hosts would go in ruing their lack of ruthlessness but when Jason Butterfield was unable to control his feet in the area and could only bring down the ball with his hand, Sunderland were awarded a penalty.

Grabban, on loan from Bournemouth, drilled it just beyond Carson's reach.

The energetic Cattermole was at the heart of most that was good for Sunderland, but when he fed Grabban after 57 minutes the striker hit the woodwork.

Helped by their much stronger bench, Derby began to take control. Cattermole had been forced to head off the line from Richard Keogh at a corner and when Galloway's slide tackle from Russell's run presented Martin with the ball in space, the striker really should have hit the target.

He soon made way for David Nugent, and Steele was out to smother a shot at the substitute's feet from one of the final touches of the game.

Simon Grayson

“Things have happened this week and people have questioned the desire and hunger at the club, but we saw 11 committed players who were determined to run and challenge for every ball.

“I thought a point was the least we deserved because we were very good in many different ways. I was disappointed to concede the goal but the big thing was that we didn’t crumble.

“They might have done in the past, but they got on the front foot and asked Derby a lot of questions.

Grayson singled out the contribution of skipper Lee Cattermole. “We expect Lee to be a leader,” he said. “He was an example to the others.

“I think the main things for the lads was that we didn't lose tonight. The attitude when we went down at the start of the game was great and we said we just needed to carry on doing that. I didn't see anything that wasn't positive.”

Gary Rowett

“We always felt it would be a difficult game. We struggled at times to get out and stop the ball coming in.

“But I thought we looked fitter than Sunderland towards the end when we couldn’t find the final finish.”