Phil Smith's Sunderland AFC verdict: Awayday frustration examined and the riddle Tony Mowbray has to solve

The Sunderland riddle: How can a freescoring team have a major goalscoring problem?

Tony Mowbray's side have scored 27 goals this season, which before the weekend's fixtures put them right near the very top of the tree as one of the most productive sides in the Championship. They came into this game sixth in the table because they are, quite obviously, both very dangerous and very good. For the most part, that's exactly what they were here.

Even in front of a capacity crowd and on a ground where Plymouth have already taken some scalps this season, Sunderland started with a verve and a confidence and a flair. 'Incredibly strong, incredibly fast', said the opposition manager.

Even in the spell where the intensity dropped and Plymouth scored twice, both excellent finishes and in the end the home side's only two shots on target, there were chances. And after the break, when Mowbray had made a ruthless but fair double substitution to lift the intensity, there were the best chances yet. Even at the very end, when it was clear that the points would not be heading back to the north east with Mowbray's side, there were chances.

There is not a lot wrong with this exciting young side, and yet there is an obvious problem. 24 shots, no goals. Only five on target, Mowbray admitting afterwards that his side had not worked Michael Cooper enough. Sunderland have taken just one point from their last four away games and scored just one goal. That is despite producing an expected-goals tally of 2.06 against Stoke City, 0.9 against a brilliant Leicester City side, and 2.05 against Swansea City. This was arguably their most incisive display of the lot, at least right up until the crucial moments.

There was a weariness as Tony Mowbray sat down for his post-match press conference, knowing that he'd again be asked to try and come up with the answer to this familiar riddle. Mowbray is eager to protect his quartet of summer arrivals, and yet he knows that no goals from a striker in 17 games tells a story. He speaks regularly of inexperience and naivety, of the painstaking training-ground work on double movements that continues and will continue for some time yet.

The head coach wants to try and find some stability in his line up and to give each of his players a proper chance to settle and impress, but this is an ambitious club at this level and points are needed now. Luis Hemir started the campaign after a good pre-season, but found the intensity off the ball a challenge. Mason Burstow was then given a prolonged run in the XI and though his link-up play and off-ball work was good, chances were few and far between and confidence seemed to ebb rather than grow. Nazariy Rusyn was next and again, there have been positives. Sharp, athletic, willing to press - and he has probably had the best of the chances. Two came his way early here but both passed him by, and thereafter he struggled to impact the game.

It may well be that Eliezer Mayenda is next, a player who caused Birmingham City all sorts of problems in a brief cameo before the break and did the same to Plymouth in this second half. Yet at 18 he is undoubtedly raw, and when his best opening came here a poor first touch meant that a golden chance became a half at best.

It was not just the strikers who were guilty of missed openings here, of course. Clarke and Roberts and many others could have done better inside the box but most frustrating is how often that pair play the ball into dangerous areas and find no one there to meet it. Sunderland play with five attacking players but too often it is the attacking midfielders closest to breaking the six-yard box rather than the centre forward.

At the other end Sunderland were punished ruthlessly for what were two relatively rare errors, Morgan Whittaker's outrageously good opening goal one of the few times he was allowed to cut inside and shoot. The second was far poorer, Sunderland caught out of position and then allowing Finn Azaz to cut inside onto his stronger foot far too easily. It was another moment in which the word naive could fairly be used.

We just have to keep going, Mowbray said. He added that he would be more concerned were his side only managing a handful of shots and even the evidence of this season suggests that if they keep controlling games like this, keep carving out as many chances as they did here, then enough results will follow to stay firmly in the play-off picture.

Twice Mowbray rung the changes from the bench and twice they gave his side an injection of intensity and quality, though it was a surprise to see Alex Pritchard not deployed. The point being that structurally Sunderland looked to be in a good place for the vast majority of this game, not giving up too many chances on the break until desperation took hold right until the very end.

The are a young side continues to build and continues to compete, causing Plymouth a huge amount of problems throughout. They are a good side, but as of yet they are not a ruthless one.

It has been a solid start to the season and yet one in which some big chances have passed them by - this was another. Until the striking riddle is solved, there might well be more.