Hull City's Liam Rosenior frustrated at two points dropped but pleased with the performance against Sunderland

"Yes," he replied instantly. "It's frustrating. Not in a negative way."

But although a 1-1 draw was a missed opportunity, especially given at 0-0 Hull were awarded a penalty and Sunderland had a man sent off, Rosenior was pleased with many aspects of his team's performance, which only made getting just a point for it all the more annoying.

"Sunderland are a good side, they've got one of the best records away from home and we've limited them to very little – I don't remember Matty (Ingram) having to make a save all game," he argued.

"The most disappointing aspect is we talk about a lot about not conceding in transition but we switched off and when you give a player of Ross Stewart's quality an opportuntiy, he's going to take it.

"What I was delighted with was the response to come back into the game.

"Overall it's two points dropped, mainly because we just played at a good level."

Oscar Estupinan put a penalty wide in the 49th minute and when Elliot Embleton was questionably sent off, the game was there for the taking for Hull.

Instead, Ross Stewart put the visitors in front, latching onto a Patrick Roberts long pass on the counter-attack. A third substitute, Ozan Tufan, volleyed an equaliser from Ryan Woods' cross, but Hull were unable to push on for a winner.

"Since I've come in we've lost one in five, we just need to turn those draws into wins," said Rosenior.

"Maybe you might disagree but I see real signs of progress in terms of the performance levels of the group, the organisation – we look more solid, more difficult to beat.

"I have to give the players that stabilisation to make sure we can go on to get results.

"But I thought some of the football we played from the back was outstanding, we created chances.

"I was worried because when you play against a team who are going to sit back with 10 men, if you're not switched on to transition, which we weren't for the goal, you can open yourselves up.

"Sometimes when you're so dominant and playing in their half, they can create a moment with just one long kick up the pitch, which they did.

"We bounced back again and scored a really good goal. I was just waiting for us to score the second.

"It didn't happen but you can see I threw the kitchen sink at it. I'm trying to win games."

Embleton appeared to jump into Woods and was shown a red card as he was stretchered off after 59 minutes.

Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray was critical of Gavin Ward's decision.

"He's taken an ambulance to hospital in a lot of discomfort," revealed the former Middlesbrough captain and manager. "Our club doctor thought it was serious enough to go to hospital.

"It looks like a bad injury.

"I've seen it back now, super-slow, and I think the referee will be disappointed when he sees it back. They both jump and Elliot catches him (Woods) with his knee in his arm.

"It happens fast and maybe the referee seeing the player rolling around and holding his head, that's maybe what makes his decision.

"The referee was probably a bit rash in his decision."

Rosenior walked down the tunnel with Ward at half-time, clearly unhappy at being denied another penalty, for a potential foul on Estupinan, who put his spot kick wide in the 49th minute.

In public, though, Rosenior was not prepared to criticise the official.

"I don't want to be one of those managers that constantly speaks about referees," he said. "I'll keep what I said about Gavin private.

"Embleton's gone for the challenge but I can understand why the ref's given a red. He's gone for the ball and I just really hope he gets better because it looks like a bad injury. I know Ryan Woods feels exactly the same way."

With Blackpool also drawing, Hull's point maintained their two-point cushion to the Championship relegation zone ahead of the Christmas programme.

The Tigers host Blackpool on Boxing Day.