Following a frustrating defeat against the Blades at home, Mowbray spoke about the match in length, going in particularly on the shocking officiating.
HARD TO MATCH
"I thought we played against a good team. In the first half particularly, we found it hard to match them. They showed their experience, they sensed an opportunity with Boro dropping points and they showed their quality and experience.”
BETTER SECOND HALF
"We scored a really good goal, the timing of their goal was damaging just before half time and I think in the second half we matched them much better. We were good second half and it would be great if the linesman came in here and said why he allowed that goal to stand.”
OFFSIDE
"There's three men offside, one goes to try and put the ball in and it bounces in. One of my staff has come out of the office and the referee apologised and said he got it wrong, which doesn't mean much to us. If you know anything about football, it's offside. It's not in doubt. Between the two of them, they got it badly wrong, which cost us some points tonight. But never mind. I've been in football since I left school about 43 years ago and offside is offside. I don't have any grey areas. Is it right an offside was allowed because a referee was incompetent or the linesman's communication was poor? We suffered the consequences."
MORE ON OFFSIDE
"It would be great if the officials could come in here and explain why the second goal was allowed to stand. There's three players offside and one of those players tries to poke the ball in - which means our goalkeeper stands [still] in case he gets a touch. He misses it I think and it bounces in. One of my coaches has just come out of the referee's office and he's apologised, which doesn't mean very much to us at the moment. I don't think it's in any doubt, he's made a move which has forced our goalkeeper to stand on his line and then the ball bounces in. I think they got it badly wrong and it has ultimately cost us."
PENALTY SHOUTS
"Someone has mentioned to me that we should have had a penalty first half, but those little decisions, you get them or you don't. Goals are what football is about and they have to get them right. I suppose that's why we have VAR in the Premier League and around the world, so someone can see the replay and see that it's offside. If we have VAR, I don't even think there's a 1% chance that goal gets allowed. I sit here every game and try my hardest not to criticise officials, but every game there's a bit of carnage going on. We can't always blame officials but I do feel I can sit here today and say they got it badly wrong today, I thought they had a really bad day. I don't want the narrative to be Mowbray moans at the officials, I'm moaning every week because I genuinely don't feel that they're good enough to take this games.”
NO EXPLANATION
"Then the worst thing is, they don't have the humility to have a conversation with you. You just want a normal conversation, an explanation. He's apologised to the coaching staff, so can we take a point. I'll go and see if Hecky [Paul Heckingbottom] will agree to take a point."
SENSE AN OPPORTUNITY
"We knew that they would sense an opportunity for themselves with Middlesbrough dropping points. We knew they'd be at their maximum, and they showed their quality and experience. We scored a really good goal which gave us something to hang onto, and the timing of their goal was very damaging. Second half we matched them much, much better and the longer the game went on... we were good second half.”
HALF TIME TELLING
"I had a bit of a go at them at half time, we've got an inexperienced team with probably only three players who've played at this level for any amount of games before. I think they're doing pretty well, so I was pretty disappointed first half that we couldn't lay a glove on them. We were better in the second half, I know we've got really good individuals who can hurt teams. We pushed them back a bit, though maybe that's because they were chasing.”
YOUNG TEAM
"I don't want to sit here and talk about having a young team, I think inexperienced is the best thing to say. It's not a physical team and sometimes we find the physicality of the game difficult.”
SHEFF ARE WHERE WE WANT TO BE
"We're battling the physical aspects of the match against the technical aspects, we grew into it and found the confidence and got some passes going, but I think they showed their quality in the first half. They were playing in the Premier League while we were in League One, we're trying to close the gap but it does take a few transfer windows and time to do that.”
NIGHTS LIKE THIS
"We were better in the second half, and yet their quality showed in the first half, and rightly so because they were playing in the Premier League while we were in League One. We're trying to close that gap but it does take a few transfer windows to do that, and time to polish up Edouard and Abdoullah and Jewison and Isaac. They can't just come over and then within weeks take the division by storm - it's a tough division and we'll have nights like last night where it doesn't quite go our way.”
NOT WORRIED
"I was disappointed that in the first half that we couldn't lay a glove on an experienced side with a lot of players who were part of a squad that finished ninth in the Premier League a few years ago. I'm frustrated because of the way we lost that game, but I don't sit here looking over my shoulder worrying about the bottom three of the table and whether we are going to get sucked in. There are nine big events to go, nine games to go and test yourselves and see whether you can be part of this club progressing in the Championship as it needs to in the next few years.”
