West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce declared himself "chuffed" to have finally brought to an end his side's winless run with a late goal from Diafra Sakho to inflict defeat on new Sunderland head coach Dick Advocaat.

The Irons were in contention for the European places earlier in the season, but have slipped down the Barclays Premier League after suffering three successive defeats and were seven games without victory.

Indeed, it appeared set to be another frustrating afternoon for Allardyce, who is out of contract in the summer, after Sunderland produced a solid defensive display and what looked like a penalty when Kevin Nolan was bundled over by Santiago Vergini, only for the officials to incorrectly signal offside.

However, with just two minutes left on the clock, Sakho slotted home after what looked like a foul on Seb Larsson by West Ham substitute Nene in the build-up to send the Upton Park faithful into a long-overdue celebration and leave Dutchman Advocaat in no doubt of the hard work ahead to secure Sunderland's top-flight status.

"It is nice to get a win to make everyone's life a little more comfortable this weekend. We are really chuffed," said Allardyce.

"Even though the game at times was a bit scrappy, we deserved it.

"Yes, there was probably a foul (in the build-up), but it is about time something went our way rather than against us.

"When things are going for you, they go for you, when they go against you they can be devastating for you.

"But on the back of the poor decisions we have had over the past ten games, it was about time one went in our favour.

"This win now puts us in a better frame of mind going into the international break.

"We want to get all of our players back fit now, we won't have Andy Carroll or James Tomkins for the rest of the season, so these other guys will make the squad stronger.

"Our run-in suggests we can win some more games, to push on and finish as high as we can."

Vice-chairman Karren Brady made comments in her newspaper column that the team were "underachieving" in recent games, and it was the manager's "task to identify the reason and rectify it".

Allardyce responded in his post-match television interview to a question about "underperforming", and then moved to set the record straight when speaking in his main media conference.

He said: "It was getting me to say (something) which looked like I was maybe criticising the vice-chairman, which I would never want to do publicly.

"The performances are there, but the results have not been over the past 10 or 11 games.

"We just have not been able to find the victory we deserved."

Allardyce added: "Even though wins have eluded us, we are on 42 points, which is the same total as last year, and we are heading for probably the best total we have had since we have been back in the Premier League.

"Anybody who wants more than that, I don't know why they can ask for more."