'I hope..': Tony Mowbray gives honest assessment of Sunderland progress after frustrating week

Tony Mowbray says he understands there will focus on his position if Sunderland's winless run continues but insists that he is developing the club's young talent for the future.

The Black Cats fought back to deny Millwall making it three defeats in a week through Jack Clarke's late penalty at The Den, a strike that also cut the gap to the top six back to three points.

Nevertheless, there has been frustration on Wearside at what has been a poor week of results on the whole, and with the goalscoring issues in the final third persisting without much sign of a resolution.

Mowbray insists that he is building a very good side who are consistently showing that they can control Championship games, but that the need to integrate and develop the young talent at the top end of the pitch will have an impact on short-term results.

Sunderland now face two challenging home games against West Brom and Leeds United, before another long trip to Bristol City.

"We'll put the point in the bag, we've got two home games coming up," Mowbray told safc.com after the game.

"They're against top teams of course but it's a great chance to see where we are and we'll give them a good game I'm sure.

"No one likes getting beat but I look at the performances in the two defeats before this game... there's not a lot wrong other than we have to stick the ball in the net. I don't sit and think after those defeats, where are we going? I sit and think we have a really good football team but in this industry, you get judged on results. Some of the defeats we've had, at Leicester I thought we were magnificent and before the red card against Middlesbrough I thought we were dominant.

"I live in a world where I get judged on results but I want these players to be judged on their performance, their work ethic and their desire to be better footballers. Of course you get judged every week on the league table so I understand it, three without a win etc. "I've always tried to be a development coach, to help the players get better and understand the game better. And hopefully then the results follow. If they don't, you lose your job. That's fine, that's football and I understand it.

"What I hope is that these players down the line, like a lot of the players I've worked with over the years, that the period they spent working with us helped them get better. I hope the alignment between developing and winning can be found.

"It's going to be a slightly longer journey than people might hope at this football club because of the inexperience of some of the footballers."

Sunderland now have a week to recover and prepare for West Brom's visit, with Carlos Corberan's side in excellent form despite losing in the last minute to Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.