Goalkeeper Anthony Patterson was forthright in his assessment of Sunderland’s frustrating 0-0 draw with West Brom as he shrugged: “We were just unable to find the back of the net.”

While it is another point on the board and 10 games unbeaten, it was a fifth straight draw for Regis Le Bris’ side who were unable to break down Albion’s stubborn defence.

They did score a disallowed goal through Wilson Isidor, who was marginally offside when Luke O’Nien’s low cross set him up. And Patrick Roberts came close when he side-footed wide while Chris Rigg looked certain to score but had his shot from 12 yards blocked as the visitors threw bodies on the line.

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For all their dominant possession at times, Sunderland and their supporters were left frustrated as they slipped to third in the table.

Patterson said: “I think it was a frustrating one considering we controlled the game for such long spells. We were just unable to find the back of the net.

“Games like this are games that we want to win, especially at home which is where we want to pick up the points. Obviously it's great to go 10 unbeaten but we want to turn those draws into wins.”

The result saw Patterson claim his seventh clean sheet out of 13 in the Championship but the goalkeeper laid the credit at the door of his defenders.

“The boys in front of me have been brilliant, especially here,” he continued. “I’ve barely touched the ball all game and it’s been a similar theme throughout the course of the season. Long may that continue.”

Patterson was also full of praise for Simon Moore who stepped in when Patterson was out injured. “Simon is a great lad and we work hard in training and I knew him coming into the team would be able to help the team out and you’ve seen that with him keeping three clean sheets while I was out,” he added.

Le Bris’ side make a swift return to action on Friday night when they make the trip to Bramall Lane to take on current league leaders Sheffield United.

The goalkeeper added: “We know what the Christmas period is like and the schedule is going to get busier as the weeks go on but we are in a great position so we need to just build on that and keep putting in the performances. We will rest and recover and we will watch the game back and see what we have to do to beat Sheffield on Friday.”