The major World Cup move that should be brought back to the EFL - to Sunderland and everyone's benefit

For weeks the Sunderland head coach had been trying to bite his tongue as the games he were overseeing were being slowed down and disrupted almost constantly, only for a token couple of minutes to be added on at the end.

The first time the boot was on the foot, Sunderland resolutely defending a one-goal lead at Birmingham City and taking every opportunity to pause, the fourth official promptly displayed seven minutes on his board.

It was the right decision, Mowbray said afterwards, but you couldn't make the timing up. Thankfully, his side held on and went into the World Cup break on a high.

Around the same time as that Birmingham City win, Pierluigi Collina was conducting an interview and warning that time wasting would not be tolerated in Qatar. Collina is not a man easily ignored and so officials throughout the tournament have been adding at times eye-watering amounts of stoppage time, often in excess of ten minutes.

Interestingly, reports in the national media have said the PGMOL, who oversee officiating in the English game, are not minded to follow suit. They will be told to continue pausing their watch during stoppages, rather than using the mechanism at the current World Cup which had led to the surges in stoppage time awarded.

That seems something of a shame, particularly at EFL level where time wasting has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. One of the hopes after winning promotion from League One, where the issue had become borderline farcical at the Stadium of Light, was that this would be an issue of the past. It hasn't really worked out that way. There have been some outstanding, breathless games on Wearside so far this season, but too many have descended into the kind of stop-start occasions that leave supporters shortchanged. Goalkeepers bizarrely getting cramp, substitutions dragging interminably on - you know the drill.

Referees have for too long simply not being able to get a grip of it, too reluctant to show yellow cards early on in the game and then unable to act decisively late on. Collina's intervention has changed the picture at international level.

One of the main arguments against the move is that it is increasingly the already ridiculous workload on players, and it's a fair one. In many of the divisions where competitive balance is already an issue, this would potentially be another move that favours deeper and more expensively-assembled squads.

Perhaps this is best seen as short-term pain that could lead to a long-term gain for the game and those that spend their money to watch it. It was notable that after an open, high-tempo game between Germany and Spain, a modest amount of additional time was added. Implemented correctly, the incentive is there to keep the ball in play and to get on with the game.

This isn't to say Sunderland aren't capable of deploying the dark arts, because they most certainly are. And no, fans aren't too bothered about time wasting when their side leads. But it's a tactic that has been allowed to go too far - and it's been refreshing to see a genuine attempt to address it.