Tony Mowbray was in good spirits after Sunderland's win against Reading. He praised the resolute defence that dealt with Andy Carroll, as well as the youthful attackers that came off the bench...
HARD EARNED WIN
"The points are all that matter today I think! They looked dull really the players, their brains looked a bit dull today. I'm trying not to use the words tired or fatigued, but Wednesday-Saturday games are always really tough to be honest. We played against a team who were really well-organised today, denied us space, tried to deal with our wide players. We huffed and puffed for 90 minutes really. We kept them down to not many chances and it was just great to score in the end. It was a tough day for us and one where we really had to work hard. As you saw, we put a lot of subs on because I felt the team looked really fatigued but we got there in the end. We'll take the points, put them in the bag and move onto the next game."
SUBS
"I think they just brought some freshness to the team really. The lads who don't play regularly, I can feel their frustration and disappointment if they're not selected or brought on. We're only trying to win games and everybody has to keep working hard. I do say to them, times like where we are now with a lot of fixtures in a very short period of time, they're all going to get used and need to be ready. So they need to train hard and team selection on Tuesday is going to be interesting. There's a lot of ice on a lot of sore muscles in that dressing room so we'll see what Tuesday brings."
PATRICK ROBERTS
"I eulogise about Patrick Roberts. He scored two amazing goals against Reading down there in a 3-0 win. He's just said, he's happy playing against Reading because he always scores! It didn't really matter who scored today."
JOE GELHARDT
"We're trying to get Joffey up to speed, he's got to learn how to play with this team and what types of balls we put in. But it'll do him good today to get 70 or 80 minutes in him. So let's just keep going, we found a way to win the football match. I said to them in there, it's important even if you don't play the best you find a way to win. We just keep the points total ticking along."
DEFENDERS
"Defended well, put our head on a lot of balls. I think Ballard and Batth have been immense. Trai just amazes me game after game, and Aji almost ended up playing centre forward at the end! They're all amazing, Luke O'Nien who's probably been our most consistent player all season finds himself on the bench because of a recent suspension. And yet it's great that he's able to come off the bench in a few different positions for us. So I'm happy enough."
ATTACKERS
"The attacking threat that we carry off the bench, all these young kids, the balance is do you start them and risk that they're not used to the intensity and they haven't been here long enough to know the way we play and their responsibilities out of possession? Then like today you have a game where you need to gamble, and we did that and it paid off. Great for those young lads who came onto the pitch and helped us get three points."
ONTO QPR
"We're in tomorrow, we'll see how everybody is and we'll look at the bodies that are gonna be okay to keep going. Tomorrow they'll recover and rest and go in the pool and get a massage. And on Monday we'll train and we'll once again travel to London and prepare for Tuesday night."
