Simon Grayson hails Fleetwood Town spirit after dramatic late fightback against Sunderland

The visitors took a first-half lead through Ross Stewart and looked to have secured their victory when Aidan McGeady drilled in a penalty 15 minutes from time.

But after Callum Morton's fifth goal in three games set up a grandstand finish, the Cod Army stretched their unbeaten run to five matches with a penalty of their own from Ged Garner.

And Grayson, who took charge of Sunderland for a four-month spell in 2017, was proud of his depleted squad’s spirit.

“We’re in good form and they’re the team at the top of the division, so we knew it would be a good game,” the head coach said.

“They have players that ask questions of you and we have a never-say-die attitude.

“We were 2-1 down last week against Rotherham and 1-0 down at half-time here today but we keep going right to the very end.

"And it’s even tougher when you’re 2-0 down but we showed the spirit and it’s a great point for us.

“If you don’t have the desire and the spirit you probably don’t get that point at the end of it, so we have a real tight group.

"We’re down to bare bones-type numbers today but those that were out there gave it everything.

"They worked extremely hard to cause them problems and had to defend well at times.”

The late drama left Town 16th in the table and saw Sunderland knocked off top spot, overtaken by Wigan Athletic on goal difference.

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