'They are not West Brom or Burnley': Tony Mowbray's message to Sunderland squad ahead of festive fixtures

The Black Cats would have been a point off the play-off places if they’d beaten The Baggies but squandered a first-half lead to lose the game 2-1.

Sunderland are now preparing for a trip to 21st-place Hull City, before facing Blackburn at the Stadium of Light on Boxing Day.

It’s then a quick turnaround for Mowbray’s side, who will face back-to-back away games at Wigan and Blackpool on December 29 and New Year’s Day respectively.

When asked about his side’s defeat by West Brom and missing the chance to record a third successive victory, Mowbray replied: “That can happen again. We can win two or three on the bounce somewhere down the line.

“There are a lot of games coming up over this festive period and who’s to say we can’t win.

“We’ve had some good results on the road recently so without knowing the fixture list exactly, Hull City, then Blackburn, who have suffered some heavy defeats recently, Blackpool, Wigan.

“They are not West Brom or Burnley, they are teams that we should be believing, as we believe we can in every game, they are games that we should attack.

“Recently we have beaten Huddersfield away and beaten Birmingham away, so there is no reason we can’t go to these places and be really positive and get results.

“We deal with the disappointment and move on.”

Mowbray also wanted to put the West Brom result in perspective after losing against one of the pre-season promotion favourites.

“I think as I’ve said before you should put into context, I know this is Sunderland Football Club and where we’ve been, the journey over recent years.

“If you’ve been as low as four years in League One, we are on a journey back and I think we have to accept some frustrating nights.

“West Brom, they had eight years consecutively in the Premier League not too long ago and they have still got some pretty big talented footballers.

“If you sit off good players, good players pick the right pass more often than not.”