Sam Allardyce believes West Ham United's luck must turn soon after they drew 1-1 at home to Middlesbrough on Tuesday evening.
The West Ham United manager saw his side held to their fourth consecutive 1-1 draw as Abdoulaye Faye's looping header was cancelled out by a fine strike from Bart Ogbeche with with six minutes to go. Big Sam thought the scoreline was harsh on the Hammers with some clear-cut chances and two possible penalty calls not going in their favour.
"When we did take our chances their keeper managed to pull off some great saves," Big Sam said. "We just aren't having the rub of the green at the moment. Things just seem to be going slightly against us. A few tricky decisions for the referee and some great saves from the keeper have seen us go from a leading position to drawing the game.
"We have to begin getting that second goal to relieve the pressure on the team in the final stages. We haven't gifted Middlesbrough the goal; it was a fantastic left-foot strike bent from the substitute but it came off the post.
"At the moment that's what happening to us; instead of the ball hitting the post and rebounding away, these shots from outside the area are finding the back of the net."
West Ham could, and probably should, have been out of sight by the time Ogbeche slammed the ball into the far corner from 20 yards. James Tomkins had seen his point-blank header brilliantly saved by Luke Steele in the Boro goal, while Matt Taylor's effort from a one-on-one bounced agonisingly beyond the wrong side of the post before the No14 was felled by the goalkeeper.
"The second-half performance was much better but we just couldn't find the second goal as we all know how nervous we get going into the final stages a goal up. The real turning point was Tomkins' header that brought a brilliant save from the Boro keeper.
"We also had Matt Taylor one-on-one with the goalkeeper who took him out but for some reason, because it's a goalkeeper and not an outfield player, the referee deems it not to be a penalty.
"There was a lot of good football played though, people are ignoring that and are only looking at the result. When opposition teams come here they make it very hard for us to play our game, in the second half we did much better.
"Some of the great play will be forgotten due to the fact the final ball was missing. We have to learn how to find a clean sheet because at the moment we are struggling to score more than one goal a game, not maybe so much away from home but certainly here."
The point extends the Hammers' unbeaten run to nine games and with Reading slipping up away at Peterborough, who West Ham play next Tuesday, the Hammers could go a point ahead should they win at London Road. For that to happen though, West Ham must beat Burnley on Saturday to ensure they are still in touch at the top.
"I'm not concerned with Reading, I am concerned with the way we are drawing too many games at home. Boro did have some chances to win it at the very end, but so did we; Sam Baldock was very close with the last header of the game. We should have killed it off before they scored but we didn't and we have been punished yet again.
"Thisis another point towards the total, its nine games unbeaten. We go home disappointed but like I said we must continue to believe that draws will turn into wins starting on Saturday when again we will be trying our best to gain the three points."
Another positive from the night was the overwhelming minute's applause before the match in support of Fabrice Muamba after reports of progress in his condition following his cardiac arrest on Saturday. The Hammers players all warmed up in T-shirts with a good luck message for the Bolton midfielder and Barcelona's Eric Abidal.
"Yes to hear about Fabrice's update was fantastic news and just what we wanted to hear. The British Heart Foundation were here [collecting for the charity] and it was right and proper that they were and I hope everyone did their bit and donated as did I."