Sam Allardyce was yet again able to hail the spirit within his West Ham United team after they Hammers came from behind to draw 1-1 at Sunderland.
Big Sam's side fell a goal down for the third Barclays Premier League match in succession, but for the third time in a row took a positive result as Stewart Downing cancelled out Jordi Gomez's controversial penalty.
Speaking to West Ham TV, the manager was not impressed with the decision to award Sunderland a spot-kick on 21 minutes, when Adam Johnson fell under minimal contact from James Tomkins.
To their credit, the visitors regrouped at the Stadium of Light, levelling eight minutes later when Downing's shot deflected off Gomez's boot and past Costel Pantilimon.
Both teams passed up chances to take all three points during an entertaining, if goalless, second half, but Big Sam was content to see his side extend their run to one defeat in ten matches.
"I am delighted in the performance of the team and I'm really pleased with the way that they played," he began. "Right from the very start, unlike how we started at West Brom, we took a grip on the game, created several chances but couldn't put the ball in the net.
"We then had to overcome a massive setback when they were awarded a penalty which wasn't a penalty, of course.
"We got a quick response and another Stewart Downing goal - I thought he was terrific. I thought the whole of the team played to their best, apart from the final bit where we couldn't find the clinical finish we needed to end up winning the game.
"Coming back from a goal down again, albeit against the run of play and from a penalty that wasn't a penalty, showed the spirit in the team."
When asked about the incident which saw Sunderland awarded their penalty, Big Sam suggested Johnson had been hugely fortunate to get the decision from the match officials.
"I can sum up the situation just like this as to why the Sunderland player went down - he was running towards the touchline, he has overhit the ball, he's not going to get a cross in and there is no danger, so he had a little dive and made the referee or the assistant referee make a decision.
"There was no danger, there was no need for us to go tackling him because he wasn't going to anywhere or create any danger. All those assessments have to be made very quickly by players and by officials on what they do and unfortunately the assistant referee has made a horribly wrong decision by giving the penalty.
"Phil Dowd, in his position that we've had a look at on the analysis, could not have seen it because there were three players in front of him."
Having fallen behind in such circumstances, Big Sam was thrilled that his players did not sulk, but rather regrouped immediately and hit back through Downing's equaliser.
"Our overall performance was one where we would get to the last ten or 15 minutes and sit back in and protect the point, but this time we didn't.
"We wanted to win it and you could see all the players went and tried to win it. I'm delighted that all the defenders did their jobs correctly and didn't let themselves get caught out by the odd breakout Sunderland did have.
"Like I said, away from home a point is always acceptable, but overall we're disappointed we didn't win."
Perhaps the mark of how well West Ham have been playing is that the staff, players and supporters are going into every game expecting a positive result. For Big Sam, the challenge is to ensure that confidence does not turn into complacence.
"Well, we can't get too greedy, can we! We had three wins on the trot and have one defeat in ten.
"Under normal circumstances, the chances we created and who they fell to, apart from the one golden chance that fell to Aaron Cresswell who is not a natural finisher, fell to our natural finishers. Unfortunately they didn't convert them.
"In the end, one defeat in ten off the back of a week with three victories, picking up a point away from home, has us ready for Leicester at home next week and trying to get three more before we go into the Christmas mayhem."
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