Allardyce concedes relief

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce was relieved that his side snatched a point against Sunderland through Kevin Nolan's injury-time equaliser, but his overriding emotion was one of frustration.

Steven Fletcher's fourth goal in three matches had put Sunderland ahead and West Ham dominated the game without reward until Nolan beat goalkeeper Simon Mignolet with a shot on the turn in the dying seconds.

"Didn't we deserve more than that on the balance of play? I thought from the start to finish we were the dominant side and created far more chances," Allardyce said.

"Because we didn't capitalise by having enough players showing a clinical finish we have ended up having to be satisfied with a draw.

"We are relieved and happy to have a point because, irrespective of who was the better side, we were still 1-0 down.

"But we will wake up tomorrow disappointed, knowing we should have won the game on the chances we created.

Mixed emotions

"At that late stage the point is something we are happy with but overall we are disappointed."

Nolan had an acrobatic volley saved brilliantly by Mignolet and missed another effort from close range while Carlton Cole, Ricardo Vaz Te and James Collins all squandered good chances.

"Sunderland had four attempts at goal today. That shows the dominance we created but our Achilles heel was our finishing," Allardyce added.

"It wasn't good enough and that made us struggle to the very end. From a manager's point of view I have to be concerned about that."