The 33-year-old Dutchman and his team-mates came within seconds of ending their winless Barclays Premier League run at the 12th attempt at Portsmouth on Tuesday night, only to be caught by a sucker punch at the death.

They eventually had to settle for a 1-1 draw - just their sixth point from the last 36 on offer - and have now won only twice in 18 league outings since they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-2 at the Stadium of Light on 27th September.

Zenden said: "Any team gets a difficult spell and a period where things are not going their way, although ours is longer than I'm used to.

"We are not getting results at the moment and all we can do is work hard.

"The fans were great with us again last night and came down in great numbers. They have seen a team which has worked and tried. It's very hard to take.

"We desperately want to give the fans something back because they deserve that.

"At the minute, it's like we are standing in the corner receiving all the punches, and we have to work hard to get out of it."

Darren Bent put Sunderland ahead from the penalty spot against Portsmouth, with Ricardo Rocha sent-off for the hosts. But after Lee Cattermole and David Meyler had both received their marching orders for Sunderland, Aruna Dindane hit a late equaliser for the basement club.