Tony Pulis warned West Brom must not take their "foot off the pedal" in their bid to avoid being dragged back into the Premier League relegation dogfight.

West Brom earned a hard-fought point with a goalless stalemate against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, with his team defending stoically under pressure from the hosts.

And Pulis, who has never been relegated as a manager, stressed the importance of maintaining their momentum – West Brom have lost just once since his arrival at The Hawthorns – as the season enters its final third.

"I've been involved in relegation fights a few times and you can never take your foot off the pedal," said the Welshman.

"It's going to be nip and tuck until the end of the season.

"We've got 12 games to go and we have to glean as many points as we can - we're in the scrap with eight or nine other teams, and everybody is fighting for their lives."

Sunderland dominated proceedings throughout, with the visitors having to settle for sporadic counter-attacks.

However, the hosts were ultimately unable to beat Ben Foster, though Adam Johnson did have a goal erroneously disallowed late in the first half.

"We've played really well recently and we started well today but fell away, but the great thing is even though we didn't play well, we got something from the game," added Pulis, delighted with his team's resilience.

"We went off the boil and it was all Sunderland, but we defended resolutely, and that's important for a team in our position.

"If we don't play well in possession, then we have to put every effort into stopping the other team scoring, and we did."