Sunderland boss explains his big Alex Pritchard decision - and why he made such an impact

He could have brought on Amad Diallo or Leon Dajaku, and indeed Amad made a major impression with a lively late cameo, but he instead opted not to ask someone to try and replicate Simms' role.

Alex Pritchard moved up front in a fairly classic 'false nine' role, and the impact was dramatic.

Reading struggled to pick up Sunderland's forward line, and Pritchard's willingness to come deep and link play dragged a deep-lying defence out of position.

It's a dilemma that Mowbray is weighing up again ahead of a challenging clash with Watford.

There remains some hope that Simms will be available, depending on how he fared in the team's final training session on Friday afternoon.

Mowbray has a number of options if Simms doesn't make it but Pritchard has shown it's a role he can fulfil, and it's one of the reasons why the Sunderland boss believes the 29-year-old is a potential coach of the future.

"I put Alex there basically because of his footballing intelligence," Mowbray said.

"His footballing knowledge, his awareness of what his responsibilities would be in a different position. We have a lot of players who could do the role but I just felt that Alex has that savvy.

"Some players have a lot of talent but they don't necessarily think about space or position, they just get the ball and do what they do.

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"Alex understands football, potentially someone who could be a coach somewhere down the line I think.

"I knew he'd have the intelligence to occupy the position and defenders, to get into spaces where defenders won't want to go so he can link with the other players."

Mowbray candidly admitted that 'you can't score three goals every game' after that remarkable win in midweek, but he is also keen to stress that he doesn't want to use the lack of a senior striker as an excuse ahead of the trip to Vicarage Road.

"I suppose it's pretty common in modern-day football, Manchester City won the Premier League last season and they very often didn't play with a striker," he said.

"You have a lot of players who play down the middle but not up against the centre-halves. It's about making sure those attacking players know when to shoot, when to pass, when to break into the box and expect the ball to arrive. It's mindset and mentality.

"Hopefully down the line I'm not talking about us struggling to score without a striker, but we hopefully want to get the message across that you don't have to be 6ft to score in the box. You see players like Raheem

Sterling who I have mentioned a lot, they can score from 30 yards but they also get a lot of tap-ins because they get into those positions [close to goal]."