Greatest league in the world it may be but the Premier League still has its instant forgettables and this was one.
The trampoline sitting beside the main road just two miles from the Stadium of Light, blown there from some poor bairn's garden, said it all about the conditions. That might have been as eventful as the afternoon got.
There was a visible impact of Storm Boelo on the pitch in the first couple minutes, too. Anything aerial was a bit of a lottery. The wind was impossible to work out. One James Trafford long ball held up. Another blew beyond its intended target. In his post-game interview he described the wind as extremely windy and he wasn't wrong.
Players from both sides struggled to hit their mark with passes or deliveries in a scrappy opening. Though Leeds settled better in possession, had more of it and had a couple of moments in and around the box including an off-target Jayden Bogle shot, the first real chance came at the other end. No one got close enough to Brian Brobbey as he picked up the ball for the first time 20 yards out and his bouncing shot had to be palmed round the post by Trafford.
Going long from the back put Dominic Calvert-Lewin in a couple of footraces with Luke O'Nien but by the midway point of the half Leeds could not lay claim to any real danger. Again it was Sunderland and Brobbey who came closest. The hosts almost profited from Harry Wilson's mistaken belief that he had been fouled and Jaka Bijol not getting enough on a back pass, but Trafford came out on top of his one-v-one with Brobbey.
The rest of the half will not live long in the memory. Sunderland cut off angles and took away Leeds' ability to find any joy out wide. It was only through long balls that yellow shirts were able to threaten and it was only really one yellow shirt, that of Calvert-Lewin, that caused Sunderland anything like discomfort. The striker had a shout for a foul by last man O'Nien ignored by the officials and was then denied fair and square by the same defender when another punt forward pitted them against each other.
Though nothing changed in terms of personnel at the interval, Leeds not only spent more time in the Sunderland half in the early stages but began to create at least a little danger. Bogle's cross found Gabriel Gudmundsson at the back stick and he hammered over the crossbar. Tarik Muharemović showed his set-piece magnetism to get on the end of a Wilson corner but headed straight at Robin Roefs. And after Bogle had a shot blocked, James Justin curled one wide.
It wasn't one-way traffic, however. Trafford remained the busier goalkeeper by some distance, throwing himself to both sides of his goal to palm away dangerous strikes. And Sunderland recovered from their shaky start to the half to exert pressure of their own. A corner from the right caused pinball in the Leeds box and a big block was required at the back post.
Momentum swirled back and forth like the crisp packets and litter in and around the technical areas. Back came Leeds. Tanaka's turn and shot forced a save from Roefs and Calvert-Lewin was unable to pounce on the rebound.
Neither side could say they played well, nor could they even really boast of anything like slick passing football. The ball went up and down, up and down, forward and backward. At times it looked beyond the control of anyone out on the pitch. Boots turned into trampolines.
But in the six minutes of time added on Leeds could at least say victory was almost within grasp. Ex-Newcastle United man Sean Longstaff was booed onto the pitch and had the headlines and a silencer on his toe when he drilled at goal from distance, only for Roefs to palm the ball wide. The ball was scrambled into his path in the penalty area and for a brief second the snatch-and-grab was on until his shot hit Lukas Nmecha. A pair of blocked Noah Okafor efforts bookended those chances.
If there was to be a late winner it would have come at that end of the pitch. As a pig of a game was brought to a close no one on the pitch, other than Longstaff perhaps, could feel too aggrieved but Leeds left the Stadium of Light in seventh on 11 points and Sunderland stayed put at the bottom of the table with five.
The positives for the visitors include a clean sheet away from home, a strong display by Trafford and a defensive unit that refuses to give up big chances. Only champions Arsenal have conceded fewer goals. Thanks to those foundations this already has the makings of a solid season. What happens at the other end of the pitch will help decide whether or not solid can be made spectacular.
That is where the improvement could most obviously be made in the performance at Sunderland, but Daniel Farke was keen to point out at full-time that the offence was where the injury disruptions came during the week in training.
The manager felt the point was a good result, as it always should be on the road for a team in their second season of Premier League football. Some points - like the one Leeds secured against third-placed Brighton - look better and better as time goes on. The opposite can be said of others - like the one against Manchester United. However valuable this one looks in retrospect, no one will ever be in a hurry to revisit a windy afternoon on Wearside.
