IF you’re a glass half-full type of person, you might look at Sunderland’s recent results and highlight the fact that the club are unbeaten in their last six matches, have kept a clean sheet in four of their last five games, and occupy a play-off place with just seven games of the season remaining.

If your glass is half-empty, you might look at Saturday’s goalless draw at Lincoln and point out that the Black Cats have won just three of their last 11 matches, have failed to score in their last two away games, and will drop out of the top six if Sheffield Wednesday win their game in hand.

Never mind glass half-full or half-empty, there are times when Alex Neil’s dour Glaswegian accent makes it seem as though he’s lost his drinking vessel altogether. After watching his side create and then fail to convert a host of chances at Sincil Bank, though, the Sunderland head coach was tilting towards the more downbeat assessment of things. This wasn’t a disastrous afternoon in terms of the Wearsiders’ promotion hopes, but it was a deeply frustrating one nonetheless.

“It’s really disappointing,” admitted Neil. “How we set the game up, how we stopped them, how we countered on them and moved the ball from the back through the middle to the final third, I thought was really, really good. But the bit that matters most, putting the ball in the net, is ultimately where we’re coming up short.

“I’ll be honest, at the moment, it doesn’t feel (like things are getting) any better because we wanted to come and get the three points. Our performance deserved three points, but unfortunately we didn’t get them. Maybe in a few days’ time I’ll look at things and take the positives out of it, but at the moment, it’s frustration. The lads know they played well, and if you play well as a player, it’s tough to accept that you didn’t get the points.”

Sunderland’s goalscoring reliance on Ross Stewart has been an issue all season, and on Saturday, with the Scotsman unable to add to his division-leading tally, his team-mates was unable to step into the breach.

Much of their attacking play was slick and incisive, with Patrick Roberts especially impressive as he produced by far the most effective performance of his Sunderland career, but when it came to finding the back of the net, it was not the Black Cats’ day.

Roberts saw a first-half effort deflected over, while Jack Clarke fired inches wide. Clarke narrowly missed the target with another effort at the start of the second half, and the Black Cats went even closer after 55 minutes when Roberts’ cut-back found Corry Evans, who hit the post.

There was another chance for Clarke after 62 minutes as he shot inches wide after Lincoln’s defence had been sliced open, and after stepping off the bench, Jermain Defoe extended the list of missed opportunities as he produced a smart turn and shot which went just the wrong side of the post.

There was a final chance in stoppage time, but Lincoln goalkeeper Jordan Wright pulled off a stunning save to keep out a header from Stewart.

Clearly, creating chances and not taking them is better than not creating chances at all. Nevertheless, with seven games of the season to go, Sunderland will have to sharpen their cutting edge if they are to hold on to their current position in the play-off places.

“It’s difficult because I can’t be critical of the players in the fact that they did exactly what I asked them to do,” said Neil. “I thought our set-up was very good, and we snuffed them out really. We played most of the game in their half of the pitch, and we moved the ball with a bit of quality at times and found great areas.

“We got into good situations, but it’s just that final ball or finish that let us down. We created more in this game than we had in the last two games (against Fleetwood and Crewe), but we scored five in the last two games. That, for a coach, is extremely frustrating because the lads have carried out everything I asked of them, we just didn’t have that little bit that makes the difference.”