REPUBLIC of Ireland international Jason McAteer admitted after the disappointing 1-1 home draw against Southampton that the Sunderland dressing room is currently not a happy place.

But McAteer, whose second goal in consecutive home games looked like easing the Wearsiders' relegation fears, reckons that was just how it should be for a team battling for Premiership survival.

He said: "We are unhappy because we have let ourselves down. We were 1-0 up with three minutes to go and we are gutted and fuming that we've drawn.

"It is just something which should not have happened but it did and the lads know it.

"We have an unhappy dressing room and that's the way it should be after a result like this.

"That's a good thing - I would rather have it like that than see the lads upbeat and just swanning off afterwards.

"They are down but we have a week to get them back up and the staff here are quite capable of doing that.

"But it is not a happy dressing room at the moment."

McAteer admitted that he hadn't looked at the bottom of the Premiership table, but the stark reality is that Sunderland are now only three points off a relegation position and, with seven games to go, their place in the top flight is under serious threat.

But the midfielder believes that Sunderland can glean enough points from the remaining programme, even though it entails trips to Arsenal and Leeds, while Liverpool are included in the three home games to come.

A trip to Highbury on Saturday could see Sunderland's position worsen, though McAteer believes that Sunderland tend to lift their game against better opposition.

He said: "There are no easy games at this time of the season - we have to battle for points and focus on our next game, which is Arsenal.

"Since I have been here we seem to do better against the teams at the top, with the exception of Chelsea last week.

"There is less pressure on us - we turned Leeds United over at home and we were unlucky not to get a draw at Liverpool.

"We'll go to Arsenal and give it a go and I think we are quite capable of getting a point at least.

"Middlesbrough have gone to Manchester United and have beaten them so we'll see what happens at Highbury."

McAteer admits, however, that pressure is mounting on a team which started the season with high hopes of European qualification.

Now it looks like slipping into a relegation dogfight and he said: "There is a lot of pressure on us now.

"You could sense it in the crowd at half time - although we were 0-0 I thought we were worthy of going in 1-0 up.

"But we didn't get a goal and the crowd were on to us.

"When the goal went in it was a kind of relief rather than a celebration."

McAteer felt that Sunderland had victory in the bag until Southampton's late equaliser through substitute Jo Tessem.

He said: "We didn't see much of a problem, and to be fair the goal came from a nothing situation.

"I'm not pointing the finger but there was nothing happening and they got a free kick out of nothing and scored out of nothing.

McAteer has experienced a relegation dogfight with his previous club, Blackburn Rovers, though he was injured as the club went down.

He recalled: "I was watching it from the outside-in really because I was injured. It was doom and gloom."

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