I watched Sunderland's latest draw against West Brom and here are three key conclusions I drew

Sunderland were held to a fifth draw in as many Championship games by West Brom on Tuesday night.

Phil Smith was there reporting on the game and here are his key takeaways....

POSITIVES TO TAKE - BUT FRUSTRATION ENDURES

Five without a win or ten unbeaten? Dominant display against a promotion rival or missed opportunity against an injury-hit opponent? Tight offside call away from three points or a lack of cutting edge?

There's many different ways you can view Sunderland's current position and all of them have their merits. What we can say for sure about this game was that Sunderland had the better of it and particularly in the second half, where they were able to add some creativity to the dominance of possession and territory they had enjoyed in the first half. They were never really free flowing, though, an expected-goals tally of 0.91 across the game solid if not spectacular. They had only two shots on target, and the majority of their 18 shots were from outside the box. They will not be alone in feeling this frustration, West Brom have one of the best defensive coaches in the division and have drawn eight of their last nine games.

Other elements of Sunderland's game were very good; Carlos Corberan admitted afterwards that his side had been unable to break a very good home press and that their lack of attacking threat was credit to Sunderland's strong shape and control. Like Millwall, this was not a poor result in isolation by any stretch. The frustration stems from those games that came before, some very obvious missed opportunities that have ultimately seen Sunderland lose some momentum. The form of Burnley, Sheffield United and Leeds is increasingly obvious, the strong recent Championship trend of teams with parachute payments beginning to hit their stride in the winter months potentially materialising once again.

Sunderland are in a good place, they've exceeded expectations across the first stretch of the season and their unbeaten run amid a long list injury and suspension issues speaks well to their resilience and consistency. Those injuries are a key part of the intensity of their play dropping a little, a combination of fatigue and missing some of their most explosive players (Romaine Mundle was a clear miss in this game). To keep pace with those around them Sunderland do need to improve, whether that be in January reinforcements or coaching on the training ground.

CHRIS MEPHAM RAISES AN UNEXPECTED DEBATE

On the eve of the season, it would have been hard for any Sunderland fan to imagine a scenario in which the partnership of Dan Ballard and Luke O'Nien would be broken up. Ballard was injured at the time, but common consensus was that his place in the team was pretty much beyond doubt when fit again. In his absence Aji Alese excelled, before his own injury forced Sunderland back into the transfer market. Enter Chris Mepham, the Bournemouth loanee who has been pretty much flawless very since.

Mepham again glided through this game, showing excellent awareness early on to intervene and snuff out some dangerous counterattacking opportunities for West Brom. Tidy in possession, he was rarely troubled defensively and even when one long ball seemed to leave him in a bit of difficult, his unorthodox clearance ran kindly for a team mate. He has been top draw and quite frankly, he's just about the first name on the team sheet so far.

With Dennis Cirkin hopefully returning to the fold on Friday night to add some thrust from the left (Alese will surely start as a natural left-footer if not), someone is going to have sit out. With Mepham one yellow away from a suspension and the cut off still games off, it might not be for long but Le Bris has a big decision to make in the coming days.

LE BRIS FINDS ANOTHER GAME TOUGH TO TURN

Le Bris found himself with few options to change the game from the bench at Millwall on Saturday and though his depth here was greater, finding the right blend was still a challenge.

The decision to bring on Aji Alese made sense, trying to get another natural left footer on the pitch to make the pitch bigger and stretch West Brom's defence. The problem was that moving Trai Hume across meant withdrawing Luke O'Nien, who was out of position but had actually been an attacking threat. O'Nien looked a bit miffed and he probably had a point.

Further forward, the need to withdraw young Tommy Watson after playing 90 minutes at Millwall handed him another dilemma. The most natural option would have been to go for Aaron Connolly and move Isidor out left, but in recent weeks that move has seen Sunderland lose their biggest presence in the penalty box. Eliezer Mayenda's pressing almost yielded an instant winner when he nicked the ball at the byline and teed up Rigg, but thereafter he understandably looked a little uncomfortable trying to cut infield from the left on his stronger left foot. Too often, he was merely driving into already crowded areas.

Is Le Bris naturally cautious with subs or is it just a reflection of Sunderland's damaging injury issues? 17 games in, we're still not really sure. What is clear is that Sunderland are struggling to finish games with a real head of steam, and that is definitely a factor in the way their momentum has slowed a touch.