Tony Mowbray identifies exactly what went wrong for Sunderland at Plymouth Argyle

Tony Mowbray says his Sunderland side simply have to be more ruthless after falling to a frustrating defeat against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday afternoon.

The Black Cats created a number of chances throughout the game and registered 24 shots, but could not get on the scoresheet as the wait for one of their strikers to score this season continues.

A long-range strike from Morgan Whittaker and a good finish from Finn Azaz in the first half proved the difference on a bitterly frustrating afternoon for his side.

"We just have to keep going - we're working with the strikers every day," Mowbray said.

"They had two shots on target and have scored both of them, sometimes you have to suck it up. We have to accept it.

"We were pretty dominant for most of the game but we knew they had threats, I think they were the third top scorers in the league coming into the game. We knew they could score goals and they showed it. I was a bit disappointed that in the first half we didn't get to the intensity that we've got to [previously]. And you have to put the ball in the net, I talked at half time about being 2-0 up against Burnley last season and losing 4-2. You have to score early in the second half but it didn't quite happen for us.

"We hit the post a couple of times but I don't think we made the goalkeeper work enough, we got into lots of amazing positions in the box and just didn't either the right pass or the space in the box - it's a combination of both. Jack must have driven into the box about 30 times today.

"We're a work in progress, we know that. We just have to keep going, there's plenty of positives for us. We worked hard enough and I just think they were a little naive, I don't want to be harsh on them but our fans have made a long trip here today and we have to be more ruthless. We have to find a way to put the ball in the net.

"We play with five attacking players every game and we've scored lots of goals, but I know a striker hasn't yet in 17. They're young players but they have to get in the box, they have to be more ruthless, they have to understand that they're getting judged and that's their job.

"We have to keep going, keep being as dominant as we have been. We need more double movements to find space, they need to keep working hard at it in training and hopefully it'll come."

Mowbray was left frustrated with the defending for Azaz's goal in particular.

"He shouldn't be able to come inside, for a start," he said. "We've scored so many goals like that ourselves this season.

"Credit to them, they fought hard and are well organised - with talented players who showed they could score without a lot of chances. We saw in our prep that they score a lot in transition, we tried to be wary of that and I don't think they've scored those types of goals actually, it's just two great strikes. We have to accept it, we have to move on.

"We fell short, we have to be more ruthless."