Tony Mowbray came out victorious on Boxing Day against his former club. Here's what he had to say after the match.
MASSIVE WIN
"Ultimately we're left delighted with the result, the three points are massive. A big crowd here, a lot of people will have travelled here who are from Sunderland and don't get to see as much of the team as they would like to. I hope the performance levels were good. I thought in the first half we were really good and pretty dominant with the ball. We got into some great areas, didn't quite capitalise. The goal they scored, I think we headed it away and it hit Ayala and ricocheted in really."
BLEIEF
"They're very dangerous from set pieces. Ayala, Brereton, Gallagher and Hyam are all over six foot. They're always a threat from set plays. But I thought we were positive with the ball and moved it quick. The technical players we've got like Amad, Pat and Jack, working off the big man up top. It's good to be able to play into him, he gives it back and they can play little one-twos. Ultimately we got a penalty from some clever play around the box and it gave us a chance really. It gave us belief to go into the second half and believe we could go and win the game."
STEWART AND SIMMS
"We left it late of course but it's good that Ellis came on. My mind's been around the two big men fit now who we haven't had fit for such a long time. Do we play them both? Or do we substitute one off after 60 minutes and play the other? Because we have got scintillating attacking wide players and you'd say Diallo has to play at the moment. What a threat he is to everybody. Pritch is still to come back, we've got some amazing options up the top end of the pitch."
DEFENSIVE INJURIES
"We worked hard behind the ball and unfortunately the injuries seem to be coming at the back end of the pitch at the moment with Danny Batth, Aji Alese, and then Gooch and Dennis going off today. It is quite concerning but hopefully they're not all as bad as we first might think so fingers crossed they're available for the games coming up this week."
UPDATES
“Aji has got a problem with his ankle and his foot. He's had injections and new orthotics put in to support his foot, it's not an injury as such where he's out for six weeks. It's a problem that the specialists are working on to try and make it easier for him. I would hope it would only be a week or so, but I don't think he'll make the trip to the North West with us. Danny Batth isn't far away but again, probably won't make those games. Gooch has got a big icepack on his hamstring, so I would suggest that doesn't look good for these next two games at this stage. Dennis took a kick on the outside of his knee and was struggling to plant his foot and push off - we will have to see and likely have a scan on that.”
BALANCE
"We have to balance it. Ross Stewart has missed four months and my intention wasn't really to give him 90 minutes today. But you keep your best players on when you're trying to win a football match for a massive crowd. We've got two games in the next five days or so. We need to think about keeping them fit. Not smashing them every game with 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes because they'll end up getting injured again. We need to try and maximise the time with them. What I'm trying to say is that there's no guarantee it'll be two up front every game because we need to use the resources of the team. We're looking healthy at the top end of the pitch now."
NORTH WEST NEXT
"We've got two on the road now. People like to be with their families between Christmas and New Year but we have to get on with it. We're going away travelling to the North West, we're going to have a few training days at Carrington, with the hospitality of Manchester United. So hopefully we'll find a performance level against Wigan and Blackpool."
CHRISTMAS DAY OFF
"I gave them all the day off yesterday, and what's important for me is when they have a day off the fans see a team that are still fighting. Not thinking they've had too much Christmas dinner and they look a bit tired. They worked their socks off today and I'd like to think that's because the balance between looking after them and making sure they spend time with their families. They're human beings. Footballers are young guys with young kids and so Christmas is an important time. But they need to give back in spades and show that they're fit to work and run and chase and fight. They did that today."
