Inside Tony Mowbray's fascinating Sunderland press conference ahead of dramatic conclusion against Watford and Preston

The main objective achieved, and after years of drama and angst a welcome opportunity to enjoy the first weeks of spring and leave the drama to everyone else.

And yet here we are, Sunderland heading into the final two games with a now very decent chance of making it into the play-offs.

The anticipation for Watford's visit is building rapidly and the Stadium of Light will be packed.

Tony Mowbray, though, has remained steadfast in his message: Play the next one and take it from there. None of his issues have changed, fundamentally. He still has no real number nine, no holding midfielder, basically no centre-halves.

Finding the right blend at home remains a challenge and he has particularly short shrift for the idea that Watford's poor form means this is a game there for the taking - he needed next to no invitation to start listing the talented players at Chris Wilder's disposal.

There remain a clutch of clubs still firmly in the mix and many with a budget and depth of squad that fax exceeds Sunderland.

At times, his refusal to show any signs of getting carried away bordered on the comical. Surely you must be a bit excited, he was asked?

'No!', he barked, though there was a wry grin to go with it.

There is undoubtedly a concerted effort on his part to keep the pressure off his young squad of players, and yet it also speaks much to his now hard-earned experience in the game.

Hanging over this press conference was the surprise claims this week that Sunderland had identified Italian coach Francesco Farioli as a possible successor for next season. Coming just a day after that stirring comeback win over West Brom, it was a reminder Mowbray didn't need of how quickly things change in football.

Mowbray spoke superbly on that speculation, and when it was put to him that there was something almost Roy of the Rovers about Sunderland's surge towards the top six, that sense of perspective came through a long and passionate answer. Yet so to did the passion for the game, for management and looking after these young players that have already made him such a popular figure.

"You know what it is, I've been in the game for over 40 years," he explained.

"You stand in that technical area as a head coach or a manager and you have good times and you have bad times. I know that if there is a longevity to my time here than somewhere along the way, there will be some bad times. There will be some booing, there will be some dissenting voices. You will have seen some amazing football managers here where it's gone that way.

"It's a journey. I had five-and-a-half years at Blackburn Rovers, it started with a relegation but it was then a journey back - and it's the same at this club. it's going to be up and down, it's not going to be constantly in one direction. There will be troughs to go with the peaks.

"That's maybe why some people don't want this job or don't cope very well with it. I try not get carried away in the good times, 'isn't this great?' You don't see me pumping my chest after the game or firing people up. I don't do it, and it's not because I don't appreciate the support because it is honestly amazing. It's amazing.

"I just don't want to be celebrating one minute and then the next it's rubbish, get out of the club. I'd rather keep a level head all the way through, where the fans know who I am, that I work hard and that I give absolutely everything I've got - and if I can't get results with the players I've got at any given time, someone else can have a go. There'll be no problems from me if that happens.

"I try to be honest with people and the honesty is that I work hard every single day, I come in and I work until there is nothing else to be done and I go home, and same again the next day. You do this job because you love it, it drives you and keeps you going. "When I stop doing it, I think I'll get old very, very quickly.

"It's football, it's what I do. I know there will be good and bad times. A few people came up to me at the awards night and said they weren't having me at the start because of the Middlesbrough connection [but now they are], so it goes both ways. And I know that if we somehow get to the Premier League and lose our first ten, there would be people who want me out.

"Does that half make sense? I don't get carried away. I appreciate the support because it is amazing, it's incredible to see because it's not just teenage boys, it is everyone, old, young: Everyone.

"Maybe it's a defence mechanism on my part, I don't want to be the hero one second and the villain the next. I want to let everyone know that I work hard and do the best for their team, and that's that really.

"I'm desperate to win for the people of this city. All the noise, the colour, and the emotion when the game starts - I will definitely be wrapped up in all of that, it's amazing and I've bought into it. But the job in hand is on the pitch, and I'll have told my players minutes before to relax, to express themselves, to play forward, enjoy the ball and trust each other.

"I will take that mentality to the touchline if I can, to encourage them all to be brave."

As he had said minutes before: Bring it on. Just don't expect him to look excited.