Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat has insisted that 'every point is important' after his side surrendered an early lead to leave the Britannia Stadium with a 1-1 draw against Stoke City.
Connor Wickham put the Black Cats ahead inside a minute, but they were pegged back when Charlie Adam collected Marko Arnautovic's pass and fired home from the edge of the area.
"The first half, Stoke were the better team and we were lucky it was just 1-1. They didn't create a lot but they had the ball and we were running behind it," Advocaat told BBC Sport.
"We played a little differently in the second half and it worked well. We had two 100% chances and didn't score but every point for us is very important.
"Results have not worked in our advantage today so we have to do it by ourselves next week."
The result leaves Sunderland 18th in the Premier League table, with fixtures against Southampton, Everton, Leicester City, Arsenal and Chelsea still to play.
Joe Sharratt
