West Ham defender Matt Upson has urged his side to build on Sunday's second-half performance against Arsenal and surge up the table

West Ham defender Matt Upson has urged his side to build on Sunday's second-half performance against Arsenal and surge up the table.

The Hammers were 2-0 down to the Gunners at the break, but second period goals from Carlton Cole and an Alessandro Diamanti's penalty meant the East End club shared the points with their north London neighbours.

Now England international Upson is desperate for his side to use the comeback as a springboard for further success and to kick-start their season.

"I hope so, I think we need a couple of wins then we'll really pick it up," he said.

"It's a positive note to head up to Sunderland, which will be a tough game, but hopefully we can get something from that."

It was fine second-half display from a club second-bottom of the Premier League and after pulling back the deficit Upson believes they could have gone on and taken all three points.

"I think we could (have nicked it).We were on a bit of a run and Carlton was on absolute fire at that point, and they didn't know what to do with him. He had an outstanding last 25 minutes," he said, before citing belief as the main reason his side got themselves back into the game.

"I think so. It was an important draw for us, given the run of results we've had and the position we're in, it was an important draw," he said.

"Not just from the points point of view, but for the spirit and the belief in the team that we can go on and win matches. That's what we've got to believe.

"It was pleasing to get back in the game and take something from it as a reward for our hard work."

Despite the good result, Upson knows improvements must continue and he feels the side can learn from their first-half performance.

"They scored the goal and it was a poor one to concede, we were disappointed with that and you could feel the players drop, I felt, for 10 minutes," he said.

"That gave them the upper hand and they had a lot of possession. We didn't press the ball well enough. But full credit to the players for the application they showed in the second half to get back in to the game.