WHILE kakorrhaphiophobia is the fear of defeat, scientists are yet to coin a phrase for the fear of winning. After everything that happened at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, perhaps they should call it 'Sunderlanditis'.

Symptoms include strikers failing to hold up the ball, midfielders wasting free-kicks in the opposition's half, defenders missing headers under little or no pressure and goalkeepers dropping crosses on the edge of their six-yard box.

All could be diagnosed at the weekend as the Black Cats suffered an adverse reaction to the prospect of their first Premiership victory since December 2002.

Accustomed to defeat and disappointment since their much-trumpeted return to the top-flight, Mick McCarthy's men became gripped by a paralysis of body and mind that allowed West Bromwich Albion to grab a 93rd-minute equaliser they had rarely looked like scoring before the nerves set in. The dramatic denouement can only have made the condition worse.

A cure needs to be found quickly if the problem is not to become terminal to Sunderland's chances of surviving in the top-flight. The psychological damage caused by the club's early under-achievement was clear to see yet, with typical bluntness, McCarthy has insisted he will not be seeking specialist help.

Thanks to the likes of Sir Clive Woodward, the world of sports psychology is a rapidly-expanding sphere. McCarthy, though, will be prescribing an intensive course of self-help instead.

"I don't want a load of psychologists on my phone," said the Black Cats boss, whose personal winless run in the Premiership now extends to 15 games. "I don't want them sending a load of letters - they'll all get filed in my shredder.

"They'll be saying 'We will help you deal with the rigours of the Premiership' or 'We will help you give them the mental stability they need'. I tell you how they'll get that - they'll get that through playing in the Premiership.

"The best players in the Premier League have it. We haven't got it yet, but we're learning. Maybe what happened here will help us make sure it doesn't happen again."

Maybe, although it is difficult to imagine how Sunderland will ever have a better chance of recording their first Premiership win of the season.

Leading thanks to Gary Breen's seventh-minute header - a bullet finish from Dean Whitehead's outswinging corner - the Black Cats handled everything a lively but lightweight West Brom side could throw at them.

Until, that is, the clock ticked past the 90-minute mark. Then, with the atmosphere inside the Stadium of Light becoming ever more fraught, Sunderland's fear of winning became all too clear.

With their back four dropping to the edge of their own penalty area, the home side failed to retain possession, opting for ill-conceived hoofs into the opposition half rather than controlled passes to feet.

Substitute Nathan Ellington was allowed to wriggle his way onto Kevin Campbell's lay-off, forcing Kelvin Davis into a smart save low to his left. Worse was to follow.

When another replacement, Diomansy Kamara, crossed from the left, Gary Breen dallied, Davis dropped, and the back-pedalling Justin Hoyte averted disaster with a superb goalline clearance from Ronnie Wallwork.

There was no such escape, though, from the resultant corner. Davis was at fault again, compounding his earlier error by coming off his line to no effect whatsoever, and Zoltan Gera powered above Whitehead to snatch an equaliser that was as inevitable as it was injudicious.

"It got a bit edgy - I know it did," admitted McCarthy. "It was always going to get that way. But we have to be able to deal with that. We should have been able to win it.

"Everybody in the stadium connected with Sunderland got a little bit anxious that we might concede a goal. But we didn't help ourselves - we ought to have been able to see that game out.

"You talk about edginess and you saw it between Kelvin and Gary when the ball was dropped and cleared off the line. I don't know what happened with the communication - if Gary had headed the ball it would have been fine, if Kelvin had punched it, it would have been fine.

"But that's a sign of edginess. We didn't manage to see things out and I feel very bitter and twisted about that. It's knocked the stuffing out of everyone."

Inevitably, West Brom's last-gasp equaliser meant Sunderland were unable to celebrate finally breaking their Premiership points duck.

While the game will largely be remembered for the home side's dramatic late collapse, there were passages of play that augured well for the rest of the campaign.

McCarthy's decision to revert to last season's successful 4-4-2 system gave his side a far more attacking outlook and, for much of the first half, Sunderland carried the bulk of the goalscoring threat.

Andy Gray justified his inclusion at the expense of Jon Stead by winning a succession of aerial challenges, while Christian Bassila again impressed as he exerted an air of measured authority at the base of midfield.

Breen's opener gave Sunderland something to hold onto for the first time this season and, while Jonathan Greening wasted a decent opening by firing wide on the half-hour mark, the visitors' attacking repeatedly foundered at the feet of the imposing Alan Stubbs.

Chris Kirkland prevented Whitehead making the game safe with a magnificent point-blank save 20 minutes from time, but the late introduction of both Ellington and Kamara helped to swing the game West Brom's way.

Suddenly, Sunderland's tiring defence was up against fresh legs and both Stubbs and Breen were exposed through a lack of pace as full-time approached.

Ultimately, though, what happened next was more about mental fragility than any physical shortcomings.

McCarthy is confident his players will overcome their fears as the season progresses. They need to. If 'Sunderlanditis' is to prove a chronic condition, the only remedy could be another spell in the Championship.

Result: Sunderland 1 West Bromwich Albion 1.

Read more about Sunderland here.