Tony Mowbray delivers brilliant verdict on Dennis Cirkin brace and what it showed about his Sunderland team

The hosts had taken the lead through a John Swift lead right on the stroke of half time, but Mowbray's side had played well and fought back superbly after the break.

Cirkin converted Gooch's cross with an excellent header, and snatched the winner when he combined neatly with Edouard Michut and Alex Pritchard.

Mowbray said the goal probably summed up why his side have been able to sustain their top-six hopes, and praised their bravery to play in what was a challenging environment: West Brom had not lost at home since facing Sheffield United in Carlos Corberan's first game as head coach.

"He's scored some brilliant headers for us," Mowbray said.

"Dennis is an aggressive, powerful guy and you just have to keep pushing him to believe in himself. He's undoubtedly got Premier League qualities, he's a powerful unit who can nick goals for you. Why he's in the box, I'm not really sure. I did ask my coaching staff, 'why on earth is the guy on the left of my back three in the box?' I think that's credit to the bravery of the team, he plays it forward and just keeps it going.

"I'm delighted for them and for our fans, I'm very proud. They've shown away at Norwich, Fulham, here... great days that should give them belief that they can go and compete against anybody in this division.

"We shouldn't worry about anyone, and yet I know that on any given day we can lost to a Watford or Preston, because you will get inconsistency from young players and a young team. But we strive for that consistency, and that's why the message is always the same: Be brave, enjoy the ball, find the space. They are doing that and most of the time, we're enjoying the games."

Mowbray praised his players for getting over the disappointment of Swift's penalty, and said their tactical acumen was impressive given the age of the XI.

The head coach is missing eight senior players through injury and the average age of his team here was just 21.

"I told them at half time that we always score, it's only at Burnley away that we haven't in well over 20 games," Mowbray said.

"It was trying to give them that confidence, and then that from there we can go on and win it. We told them to make sure they're positive, win the ball and be brave.

"It's great to see so many young players doing just that, trying to play. We played well and controlled large spells of the game, I thought on balance that we deserved the points.

"It's all credit to the players, sometimes they're looking at me and I just hope they're taking it in, we had the youngest starting XI in the EFL today and you just hope they can take on the information. They're doing it, and it's really impressive and it shows their mindset."