Slazenger escaped with a point after this bruising North Decision 3 East encounter.
Slazenger were quickly out of the traps and Sunderland had no answer to their quick passing movements. The Horbury side were rewarded with two goals in open play in the first 10 minutes from Mark Swinden and Alex Gilson.
However, Slazenger took their foot of the gas with too many players making individual runs rather than passing their way around the Sunderland midfield. This allowed Sunderland to sieve the initiative and reduce the arrears before half time. The midfield was largely bypasses in the second half with both sided looking to get the ball up-front as quickly as possible.
Sunderland probed more adept at this tactic and as the Slazenger defence became more jittery, Sunderland capitalised with two quick goals. Slazenger pressed back with the Swinden brothers to the fore but were thwarted by some heavy Sunderland tackles.
Sunderland were finally punished when one of their players was dispatched to the sin bin after a crude challenge. Slazenger took full advantage as James Swinden equalised, spinning the ball past the keeper from a penalty corner.
Both sides had chances in the final minutes but the deadlock could not be broken. This was a poor performance from Slazenger but at least they gained a point. They bid to rise up the table in their next home game against Marten Furness next Saturday at 1:30pm
