Tony Mowbray gives Luke O'Nien update and explains his key selection calls in Sunderland verdict

Sunderland had dominated the opening hour of the game and took the lead through Dennis Cirkin, but had to defend their box as the hosts applied late pressure from crosses and set pieces.

Mowbray was thrilled to send the 2,600-strong support home on the long journey to the North East with three points.

"We moved the ball around the pitch well in the first half, we just lacked a bit of cutting edge and ruthlessness in the box, someone who makes their living from scoring goals," Mowbray said.

"We knew we'd have to, they've got some physicality in their team and they are fighting for their lives. We knew we had to keep it alive, not have lots of dead balls coming into our box - as the last 20 minutes showed really as it was difficult. Great credit to the lads that they saw it out.

"I'm so happy for the supporters, the time and expense they will have put in for this trip - to get the three points will make it a much nicer journey heading home."

Sunderland's late defensive effort was all the more impressive given that they were without Luke O'Nien.

Mowbray confirmed that the defender had not travelled as his wife is due to give birth. The head coach opted to bring Trai Hume into central defence rather than January addition Joe Anderson, a move that also saw Patrick Roberts dropped to the bench.

"We just feel Joe [Anderson] needs to grow into the football club, he's a brilliant kid we're just not sure he's physically ready at this moment," Mowbray said.​

"We could see Trai's fantastic spring and his athleticism, and Dennis was chomping at the bit to get back in.

"We decided we wanted to defend in a four and build out in a back three, so Gooch could play really wide like a winger and then drop back in out of possession.

"When we had the ball, we wanted to play with real width and try and overload them. I just felt that the formation took Patrick out of the team a little bit, I felt Trai and Dennis could build out either side of Danny.

"We rotated around that, I felt as we played out we could push Gooch high and then Amad could come inside and get on the ball.

"Pritchard could then come down the line rather than being marked by two big centre-halves.. It gave us the ball in the first half, albeit we didn't have enough cutting edge.

"Danny Batth made the first contact really well, Trai Hume showed his fantastic athleticism to spring and make first contact. I was happy with how we saw that out, it's never easy when teams load the box like that and yet we managed to see it out."

Sunderland now have a four point gap to the top six as they prepare for back-to-back home games.