Sunderland 0 West Ham 1:THERE IS something vaguely seasonal about the growing patches of white in Roy Keane's beard, but the reason for their presence is not hard to determine.

For all the unexpected solidity of West Ham's defensive effort, Sunderland's fourth defeat in five games betrayed a lack of quality which suggested that of the two teams, it is the Wearsiders who may find it hardest to pull away from the relegation struggle, in the short term at least.

Last week's draw at home to Portsmouth was West Ham's first clean sheet in 25 matches, but the Hammers still came into this match having taken just two points from their previous seven games, a run that had seen them sink to within a point of the bottom three.

That Sunderland would make the early running was inevitable, literally in the case of Djibril Cisse, when Kieran Richardson gave him the opportunity to match his speed against Matthew Upson's. The Frenchman got there first, but Upson, his confidence clearly buoyed by the plaudits for his performance for England against Germany in midweek, shepherded him calmly away from goal.

The pairing of Cisse and Kenwyne Jones up front for Sunderland offered pace and power but not, as yet, an understanding. Keane's decision to bring back Andy Reid on the left of midfield should have helped in terms of supply; with Steed Malbranque on the right Sunderland were fielding two of the sweeter passers in the Premier League, and they combined to good effect when Malbranque's pass with the outside of his right foot gave Reid room to cross. He picked out Cisse, but the striker looped his header over.

West Ham, contrary to type, were playing the more direct game, but it was a clumsy foul by Reid on Lucas Neill that lead to them taking the lead. Julien Faubert's free-kick was headed out by Nyron Nosworthy, but collected just outside the penalty area by Valon Behrami, whose shot took a hefty deflection off Jones on its way past Marton Fulop.

Reid almost redeemed himself immediately, swinging in another cross that Cisse, rising without a challenge, glanced wide. Five minutes later Reid seized on a loose ball to curl a shot on to the top of the bar.

If the Hammers' attempts to counter were for the most part ineffective, they were organised and solid at the back, though Jones and Cisse had good penalty claims turned down by referee Mike Dean after being wrestled to the ground in the penalty area by James Collins.

The Wearside crowd let Mr Dean know what they thought, but Sunderland had only themselves to blame for all but handing West Ham a second, when Anton Ferdinand's slip gave Craig Bellamy the chance to run clear.

Fulop forced him wide, but West Ham looked certain to score when Bellamy squared the ball to Behrami, four yards from goal; somehow, the Kosovo-born Swiss national contrived to side-foot the ball on to the bar. Supremely fortunate on that occasion, Sunderland continued to feel hard done by at the hands of Mr Dean, especially when a third appeal for a penalty, this time for handball when Cisse's shot hit Upson, was turned down at the start of the second half.

Something of the heart seemed to go out of Keane's team at that. The Irishman reacted, replacing playmakers Reid and Malbranque with the steelier qualities of Daryl Murphy and Carlos Edwards, but it was telling that it was Phil Bardsley, advancing from full-back, whose shot from well outside the penalty area next stirred the crowd.

"Of course I'm frustrated, because I don't think we deserved to lose," said Keane. "But it's not as if I can fault the players for their attitude, we just lacked the cutting edge in the final third. For all our huffing and puffing, their 'keeper didn't have too much to do."

Keane admitted after the game his side needs a change of mentality if it is to progress.

He said: "Last year, we ended up losing 20-odd games - if you turn 20-odd defeats into six or seven draws, it makes a hell of a difference at the end of the season.

"That's something we have got to find at the football club in the first team, that mentality where we are not at it, but we will take a draw. We have seen other teams doing it. It just seems to be win or bust. That's something we are daily working to change. You have got to take advantage of games like today's."

Guardian Service