Aston Villa edged towards safety with a 15th draw of a thoroughly uninspiring season on a day when Martin O'Neill's return to these parts was greeted with far more boos than applause. Villa supporters aggrieved at the manner of O'Neill's exit would have cherished the sight of a home win but Sunderland deserved a point and could easily have departed with all three.

The lively James McClean stabbed a shot over from six yards out while Nicklas Bendtner headed over from a similar position, had another effort cleared off the line by Stephen Ireland and, later in the second half, saw his close-range shot ruled out for offside when it appeared that he had been level with the last defender. If O'Neill was bitterly upset with that decision, he had no complaints with the boos that accompanied his walk along the touchline before kick-off.

"I think that's a very natural reaction considering I've been gone two years and they've never known the reasons for leaving," the Sunderland manager said. "I was expecting it and I got it. The idea that I left them in lurch, I apologise maybe for [leaving] five days before [the start of last season].

"But I came to this football club a fortnight before the [2006-07] season started with a team that had almost been relegated the previous year. And while when I left, the timing is never great, five or six days from the start of the season, the team was infinitely better than the one that I had [inherited]; internationals galore, players who have gone on to other clubs and who have been excellent for the other clubs. I'm talking about [James] Milner, Ashley Young and [Stewart] Downing, people like that."

O'Neill was nothing like as understanding when it came to the assistant referee's decision to raise his flag after Bendtner turned in Sebastian Larsson's centre in the 74th minute. "Level is on," he said. "They're having a tough time at the minute, the linesmen and referees, but you've got to try and get that right, particularly as [the linesman] told one of our players afterwards to watch it on TV, which was very magnanimous. I hope he watches it himself before he settles down to his fish supper. He was so adamant he got it right. It's nice to have that self-confidence."

Villa, who lost James Collins and Gabriel Agbonlahor to injury either side of half-time, were not without their own opportunities. Andreas Weimann drew a fine save from Simon Mignolet after 12 seconds and the Sunderland keeper produced another decent stop to thwart Charles N'Zogbia during a bright Villa opening. Weimann also had a couple of chances in the second half but lacked conviction in front of goal on an afternoon that ended with the Sunderland midfielder Craig Gardner being sent off after picking up a second yellow card for a clumsy challenge on Marc Albrighton.

"We've got four huge battles left," said Alex McLeish, the Villa manager.