It was another frustrating afternoon for Sunderland fans on Saturday, as the Black Cats drew 1-1 with Sam Allardyce's West Ham United - their 10th share of the spoils in just 16 games - and boss Gus Poyet had some strong words in his post-match press conference.

"We had plenty of opportunities and plenty of shots"

- Gus Poyet

Poyet believes his side can take plenty of positives from their performance, suggesting that Sunderland did enough to win the game, but just could not find a way to get the winner: "We didn't have too many chances against Chelsea or Liverpool, but today we had plenty of approaches, plenty of shots and plenty of opportunities to put the ball in the box in a better way. We passed it, we had corners and we couldn't find a way," he said. Poyet, continuing, remarked that problems in the final third have meant his team have struggled to turn draws into victories: "We didn't do well in the final third, and that is something we have been missing.”

Coming up against a West Ham side in fine scoring form under Allardyce - with just Chelsea and Manchester City scoring more this season - Poyet was impressed with his side's ability to restrict the Hammers to just one goal: “I think we defended [Andy] Carroll in a great way because he couldn't really find that freedom to go and have an easy chance", he said. "We stopped [Carl] Jenkinson and [Aaron] Cresswell from putting hundreds of balls into the box, so there were plenty of things that we did well and there are things we can work on.”

"I thought Wickham's chance was in"

- Gus Poyet

Sunderland's goal came from the penalty spot - a cool finish by Jordi Gomez - but there were chances for the Black Cats to seal all three points late on. The best of these opportunities fell to Conor Wickham, and Poyet confessed that he thought his player had found the net: “I thought Wickham's chance was in at the end; we were throwing everything and getting close", he said. Indeed his side did push late, going forward with everything they had as the crowd around the Stadium of Light urged them on.

Alas, a winner was not forthcoming after Stewart Downing had equalised for West Ham just seven minutes after Gomez's penalty. The result leaves Poyet's men in 15th place in the Premier League table, hovering dangerously over the relegation zone - with just two points seperating them from the sides in the drop. Poyet knows that his side need to turn draws into wins - and fast.