"For some reason we got exuberant, trying to score the second. I was crying out for a hurricane, something to stop the game. It was like basketball at the end. When you’re a hardened professional like myself, you just want it to be seen out. You need a little je ne sais quoi. If you’re a nailed-on good Premier League team then this would not have happened. We've come up against a Spurs side that in the first half looked like they were going to give us a really tough afternoon. They knocked the belief out of us with their movement and passing. And it wasn't till half time when we sat them down and adjusted a couple of things and put a bit more belief in the players that we looked like what we can do, caused them all sorts of problems. We took the lead and if it wasn't for exuberance at the end, trying to get a second and the crowd urging us on and all getting a little bit carried away, we would have a really big victory today. Unfortunately for us, its only a draw. It is disappointing for the players because we lost a late goal last week under different kind of circumstances in terms of we got really deep and was rash with a few clearances. But today, it was the opposite - we was too stretched and charging around looking for a second so somewhere in the middle there is a balance. We are going to put some work in in Portugal and I think maybe crank up our levels a little bit and to see games out. We looked tired at the end of both games and maybe that was a factor. I thought he (Coloccini) was the stand out player today, he was brilliant in everything he did. I'm pretty close to securing another player of our squad and that will be a big bonus for the club. So I've concentrated on that, if one becomes available I think can help then great but the squad players for me are doing terrific. There is a good feeling in the group and good strength."

"I enjoyed that atmosphere and I could see the experience we had on the pitch coming through. People like Kevin Nolan and Alan Smith knew what it was all about. We have taken four points from the derby this season and we look forward to the next one. I’m sure Steve Bruce will say that his team are higher in the league. We still have that to address this season. We have disappointment after conceding late on, but we have a really tough game with Spurs now. We have to concentrate on that because you want to aspire to where you can. Sunderland are having a great season and we have to look at where they are. We have had a lot of serious injury time. The fourth official’s info was good but I felt five minutes was a lot. You don’t see many games like that. It was harsh if I’m honest. I thought it was three or four minutes. It boosts the crowd when you get that. The ref said ‘here’s a bit of excitement’, which it proved to be. We were so negative in our approach at Stevenage - this time we got a grip of it in the second half. The disappointing thing was that when we broke we had a couple of chances. I am frustrated. I thought the players had a good mentality, started fast and on the front foot. We tried to hurt them. The first half was like a derby with nothing really happening, but the second half was excellent. We got the goal. That period when our fans made lots of noise, I thought we would see it out. We perhaps could have got a second. What cost us was a lot of injury-time. It feels like a defeat in the dressing room."But my message was, when you lose key players you have to perform. We did. I have been really buoyed by Shola and Leon – they may just have saved me a problem looking elsewhere and it’s not just them. Peter Lovenkrands has done well too and we’ve got Phil Airey just beneath them. Shola and Leon were as good as the strikers at Sunderland in Darren Bent and Gyan. They did very well indeed. That is good for us because we have Andy carrying an injury. This has altered my thinking in the transfer window and we might be looking to improve in other departments now.”