And Fulham were badly in need of a Haynes like performance from someone, as Sunderland will feel hard done by that they are not travelling back to the North East with all three points.
Richardson went closest with two free-kicks, one that was harshly disallowed and another that managed to hit the post three times.
As for Fulham's Gera he had an afternoon to forget as he missed a hatful of clear-cut chances.
Sunderland started the brighter and looked the most dangerous. The French connection of Pascal Chimbonda, Djibril Cisse and former Fulham favourite Steed Malbranque were running the show in the opening exchanges.
For all of the dominance and pressure Sunderland put on Fulham, it was the hosts who had the first sniff at goal.
Hungarian Gera was played in by Jimmy Bullard from a quick free-kick and the midfielder seemed to do all the hard work by rounding Craig Gordon in the Sunderland goal, but he was unable to keep his shot on target.
If Gera thought that miss was bad, then his one just minutes later was even worse.
Andrew Johnson played a low cross across the penalty area from left-hand side, the ball seemed to be rolling perfectly to an unmarked Gera in the six-yard box, but he somehow managed to miss the ball completely.
Sunderland continued to pile on the pressure and both Cisse and Michael Chopra went close.
Cisse raced down the left-hand side and cut back only to fire his fierce shot wide of the far post.
Just after the half-hour mark Malbranque crossed for Chopra who was lingering in penalty area and his bicycle kick went just wide of Mark Schwarzer's right-hand post.
Then the most extraordinary moment of the match came in the 41st minute from a Richardson free-kick.
His curling effort seemed to have the Australian keeper beaten, but the ball hit the left-hand post and then the right-hand upright before fizzing across the goal-line and hit Schwarzer on the back and hitting the left-hand post for the second time.
Sunderland thought they had taken the lead ten minutes into the second half when Richardson again curled in a brilliant free-kick past Schwarzer, but referee Keith Stroud disallowed it for an infringement in the wall by Chimbonda.
Bullard then went close for Fulham with a powerful shot from the edge of the area after good work from Simon Davies, before Gera's nightmare afternoon in front of goal when he tamely headed into the arms of Gordon when he was unmarked from eight yards.
But it was Sunderland who looked the most likely to snatch a winner and they would have done through Cisse 15 minutes from time, if it had not have been for the crossbar.
Substitute David Healy knocked the ball for the Frenchman whose volley from 20 yards rattled off the horizontal.
The game ended goalless and for Roy Hodgson it should be seen as a point gained as they stopped the rot of four successive defeats, Roy Keane on the other hand will be cursing the woodwork as his side failed to win the game.