"We knew West Ham would be a tough game and I think they were in a situation where they had to get a result after a run of games on the road without picking up many points," Southgate said after the match at The Riverside.
"Having their captain Lucas Neill come back was big for them and they had great energy with some of the young players.
"Perhaps with hindsight I should have changed the starting line-up to give us some more energy as well so I'm obviously happy with a point.
"They had a lot of the ball in the first half and perhaps we didn't use enough width. In the first half especially we lacked the ability to deliver the final ball.
"Overall I'm really pleased with the point - we were really flat in the first half and the response from the players was great.
"It's shows the importance of having a big squad because all of the substitutes had a big effect on the game.
"A draw was probably a fair result."