GUS POYET was left bemoaning a couple of refereeing decisions which contributed to Sunderland’s failure to claim a much-needed victory over West Brom.

At the end of a pretty dour goalless draw at the Stadium of Light, the Black Cats had done more in a bid to win but failed to cause the Baggies enough problems.

But West Brom were fortunate not to have had a man sent off in the opening five minutes when Danny Graham was pulled back by last defender Joleon Lescott. Instead referee Michael Jones issued the defender a caution.

There was further controversy on the stroke of half-time when Adam Johnson had the ball in the net. But he was deemed to be in an offside position when Ricky Alvarez sent over the cross, despite being played marginally on by defender Craig Dawson.

Poyet said: “It was onside and it was unfortunate by the linesman. He made a mistake but I was more disappointed with the referee because the foul (on Graham) was given by the linesman.

“If he made the decision about the foul, from where I was it looked like a foul, then I look at the referee because if you give the foul you give a sending off ...”

West Brom boss Tony Pulis was less convinced. He said: “I’ve seen old women in the high street take more of a knock and stay on their feet!”

Those two incidents were the only real talking points on an afternoon when Ben Foster made the only two real saves of the afternoon from a Seb Larsson drive and late Connor Wickham header.

Poyet, who was keen to see improvements after coming under fire from fans, said: “The performance was higher in commitment. Going for it, it was spot on. We needed a break. We needed a lucky goal or the right decision from somewhere. In England you say it wasn’t to be and it was that kind of day.

“It’s difficult for me. Tony has improved his team, he is one of the best and they are difficult to beat. I think we did enough to get a break today. It was important to get back to basics and we just needed that goal to be a perfect day.

“We can take positives. We were higher up the pitch, we crossed I don’t know how many times. It wasn’t to be. You need to play this way. You need to anticipate the second ball. We will see.”