Sunderland head coach Gus Poyet is urging his players never to forget their horror show at Southampton as they attempt to continue a promising recovery.

The Black Cats headed into the international break having taken four points from the last six after following up a 3-1 victory at Crystal Palace with a creditable 1-1 draw with Everton on Sunday.

That represented a more than satisfactory return for Poyet, who just three weeks earlier, had seen his side taken apart on their return from the previous break, losing 8-0 at Southampton in a rout which set the relegation alarm bells ringing once again.

The debacle on the south coast was followed by a perhaps less surprising 2-0 home defeat by Arsenal, but the response since has given Poyet hope that his players have what it takes to compete in the Barclays Premier League.

He said: ''I can sit and talk and tell them and practice, but with all respect to every single player in the world, they are themselves on the pitch, they cannot hide, so they need to grab that as a group and make sure that it won't happen again.

''That's something probably the players in the last two weeks and they have been making sure that - let's hope - it won't happen again.''

Poyet will hope there is no repeat when the league programme resumes at Leicester on November 22, a fixture which heralds a difficult run up to Christmas which includes home clashes with Chelsea, Manchester City and West Ham and trips to Liverpool and in-from rivals Newcastle.

However, the Uruguayan, who guided his side to a draw at City and wins at Chelsea and Manchester United in the midst of their remarkable survival run at the end of last season, insists he does not fear what lies ahead.

He said: ''It's always like that. We are learning how to play against the top teams and we know how difficult it is and how much quality they have.

''You need to try your best and we need to be realistic. Somehow you need to make sure you do what you are best at and get a result.''

Sunderland did just that on Sunday, although the 1-1 scoreline does not begin to tell the story of a game which may not be remembered too fondly by referee Lee Mason, who incensed the home fans among a crowd of 43,476 at the Stadium of Light, but in fact rather let the Black Cats off the hook.

He might have issued midfielder Jordi Gomez with a red, rather than yellow card for a ninth-minute challenge which resulted in Gareth Barry being carried from the pitch on a stretcher, and the Spaniard escaped a second time when he avoided further punishment after going to ground cheaply on the edge of the penalty area.

But the majority of the fireworks were to come inside the final 23 minutes with Sebastian Larsson firing the home side ahead with a fine free-kick before Mr Mason once again became the centre of attention.

There was little doubt that the official was correct to award a penalty for striker Connor Wickham's rash challenge on full-back Seamus Coleman, but quite why he decided not to dismiss the Sunderland man remains a mystery.

Leighton Baines duly obliged in far from convincing style from the spot to snatch a point, although there was further controversy late in the game when Everton keeper Tim Howard momentarily smothered the ball having left his area to prevent striker Steven Fletcher from dispossessing him.

The home fans, already bristling with an ill-founded sense of injustice, roared their frustration, but Poyet took a more relaxed approach.

He said: ''It was strange. It's nice, we can talk about it, it brings football into the pubs on Sunday night or Monday evening.''

Everton manager Roberto Martinez later admitted his surprise that Sunderland had not finished the game with only nine men, but praised his side's resilience as they attempt to cope with the demands of European, as well as domestic, campaigns.

Martinez said: ''Everyone in the squad is ready to face Europe and face the Premier League, and it is just making sure that we use the squad in the right manner.

''We didn't look a tired team, especially in the last 10, 15 minutes. When you go 1-0 down, the heart rules the head, but I thought we looked very composed in what we were doing and we knew exactly how to try to get back into the game, and that shows you the mentality is right and we are ready to face as many games as we could have.

''We want to have games, it's not that we don't want to be involved in competitions for as long as we can.''