Sam Allardyce reveals why he refused to gamble and go for win against Bournemouth

The 61-year-old saw his team bank another point – just their 19th of the season to date – from a 1-1 home draw with Bournemouth on Saturday when they desperately needed three.

However, defeats for relegation rivals Norwich and Newcastle and a draw for bottom-of-the-table Aston Villa meant the Black Cats were marginally better off at the end of the day than they were at the start, although still deep in trouble.

They remain in 19th place in the table, three points adrift of safety and with only 15 games left in which to rescue themselves.

On a positive note, Sunderland recorded their first draw in 16 attempts under Allardyce – they had won five and lost 10 of the previous 15 – and did so having recovered from an awful start during which Benik Afobe gave Bournemouth the lead with a 13th-minute header, their eighth goal inside the opening 15 minutes this season.

The early setback dented the black Cats’ fragile confidence further, but they gained a foothold when full-back Patrick van Aanholt fired home an equaliser in first-half injury time.

Billy Jones would have given the home side the lead after the break but for a fine save by Artur Boruc, and substitute Lewis Grabban passed up a glorious opportunity to win it for the visitors late on.

Asked if Sunderland, who face both Manchester clubs and trips to Liverpool and West Ham in their next four fixtures, might have collected all three points if they had gambled, Allardyce was pragmatic.

He said: “Why? Why gamble when we have done it before and lost every single game? You don’t gamble on situations like that, particularly when you have gambled before and ended up losing three and four and not gaining any points whatsoever.

“This is the first point we have gained from going a goal down since I have been here. Winning a game from going a goal behind is something that this club doesn’t do very, very well if you look at the history of it, so to actually get a point is a good achievement from going a goal behind.”