Well at least Sunderland stopped the rot, even if they remain rock-bottom. And Leeds United departed with a point, not something to be sniffed at in the Premier League.

But this was a tough watch on a bleak day when neither side could beat each other – or the elements – and find the quality required for a breakthrough.

In atrocious conditions caused by Storm Boelo which saw winds of 50mph batter Wearside earlier in the day, that was perhaps understandable.

Half-chances proliferated at both ends but really it needed a touch of class from somewhere to break the deadlock and warm the cockles of over 46,000 frozen spectators.

Or a mistake perhaps. Neither came.

Two of the division's leading marksmen – fit-again Brian Brobbey of Sunderland and Leeds' Dominic Calvert-Lewin – were left to feed off scraps.

Both were withdrawn during the second half, which in many ways summed things up, although Leeds might have pilfered the points late on through former Newcastle man Sean Longstaff.

That would have been harsh on Sunderland, who showed undeniable spirit in ending a run of four straight Premier League defeats.

For all Leeds' progress this season – they have lost just once – wins are proving hard to come by and this stalemate marked their fifth draw of the campaign and left them in seventh.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke said: 'First of all, I think it's fair to say that this was not the nicest piece of football.

'But these games also belong to the Premier League and we came here to a difficult ground where not many teams have won.

'With the weather conditions, you could hardly predict the curve of the ball, so you have to dig in and show steel.

'This is what we did and to get a clean sheet away from home is always pleasing. Overall a draw was a fair outcome.'

Farke pointed to the disruption which saw defender Nico Elvedi miss out through illness and Calvert-Lewin, Noah Okafor and Anton Stach struggle with knocks during the week.

The Leeds boss was also left grateful to his £45million club-record signing James Trafford who made a number of saves to keep the Black Cats at bay.

Farke added: 'I wouldn't say there was one world-class save but several good saves and James showed why we were desperate to sign him. To be honest, I expect this from him.'

Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris was happy to take the positives after his side's abject 2-0 surrender at Bournemouth last weekend.

The manner of that loss prompted defender Nordi Mukiele to brand his team 'arrogant' and 'not good enough'.

After fighting tooth and nail against Leeds, this was another step in the right direction following the 1-1 draw at Lech Poznan in the Europa League.

Le Bris reflected: 'It was a tight game against a good team.

'We are struggling a bit, so the most important thing was to be Sunderland.

'We showed togetherness, intensity, consistency and avoided the unforced errors that we've committed in recent games.

'The weather wasn't easy to manage, but we created some small chances, although not enough to win it.'

Farke flatly rejected suggestions last week that Leeds could mount a serious challenge for European qualification this season.

He claimed such talk is 'unrealistic' and his side certainly struggled to impose themselves on Sunderland during the first half.

Brobbey went closest with a 20-yard strike that Trafford kept out and the England goalkeeper cut an assured presence all afternoon.

Sunderland's commitment was clear to see and typified by Trai Hume's crunching challenge on Leeds left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson as half-time approached.

Leeds began to turn the screw after the break and Tarik Muharemovic headed straight at Robin Roefs from a corner.

But as the hour mark approached, Trafford proved his worth again when turning Nilson Angulo's low curling shot away for a corner.

Calvert-Lewin saw appeals for a penalty ignored before Leeds substitute Longstaff hit a low, left-foot shot in the 90th minute which Roefs turned round a post.

Longstaff went close again moments later but could not find the net as both sides settled for a point from a game they will be happy to move on from quickly.