West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce branded Adam Johnson a diver after their 1-1 draw with Sunderland.

Johnson toppled under the challenge of James Tomkins in the 22nd minute and - despite minimal contact - referee Phil Dowd had no hesitation in awarding a spot-kick from which Jordi Gomez struck the opener.

Allardyce said: "It's a dive. I have to say, Johnno knew he was going nowhere - he knew it was going out of play - so (he thought) I'll have a little fall down and make the referee make a decision, and it went in his favour.

"I've seen it from four angles on the laptop and the assistant referee has made the wrong decision in my opinion. It wasn't the referee's decision because he couldn't see from where he was because (his view) was obscured by three players."

But Allardyce was equally convinced that Dowd got it right when he waved away a strong spot-kick appeal in the second half after Hammers defender Winston Reid plainly handled a Santiago Vergini cross in the box.

Allardyce added: "Handball has to be intentional and I don't think it was intentional at all. Everybody thinks that when it hits somebody's hand today it has to be a penalty, but it doesn't."