Tony Mowbray makes a Sunderland prediction as fierce battle for Championship top six resumes

Tony Mowbray has warned it is likely to be an up-and-down end to the Championship campaign, and says Sunderland should relish being well clear of danger in their first season back in the second tier.
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Sunderland's unlikely play-off tilt suffered a big setback when they lost 2-1 to Rotherham United in midweek, days after a Nakhi Wells penalty had rescued a point for Bristol City in stoppage time at the Stadium of Light.

That has seen Mowbray's side drop out of the top six for now, though the table remains incredibly tight.

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Saturday's opponents Coventry City sit eleventh in the Championship table as it stands but have won their last two games and sit just four points behind Sunderland.

Sunderland boss Tony MowbraySunderland boss Tony Mowbray
Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray

Mowbray says he expects the ferociously competitive battle for the top six to continue throwing up surprises and added that his team must focus on their performance from game to game.

"It's [play-offs] not something that we talk about to be honest, we just focus on the next game," Mowbray said.

"I do believe that we will probably go up and down over the next 13 or 14 games, we can potentially lose a couple and then win a couple. We might drop to midtable and then you win a couple on the bounce and be back in the top six - that's the league that we're in.

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"The real positive is that we're not scrambling at the bottom, thinking that if we lose we could drop into the bottom three. So far we've found a level of consistency that has allowed us to pick up points, and we've got to try and continue that over the remainder of the season and see where it takes us. Without the pressure of 'we must win', in my mind we have to go and play well, impose ourselves on the opposition. We can do that and still find a team on a really hot day, their strikers take the few chances they get and we lose. Or, we can be a bit below par and still score three goals - last week was a bit like that. I've bumped into people who've told me how amazing we were at QPR but for the first 30 minutes we barely got a kick, we were on the back foot yet we go and win.

"On the other side of the coin, the last half an hour at Rotherham was really good and everything we want from our team. That's football, the result dictates everything. Generally, the reality is somewhere in between. There was some good stuff at Rotherham but early in the game we didn't get up to the intensity levels required, maybe because of the schedule or maybe because of my tactics.

"It's a learning curve for us and the next game is round the corner, we'll go to Coventry and try to give them a tough game."

The trip to Coventry marks the end of a demanding month for Sunderland in which they will have played seven fixtures - with just four to come before the international break at the end of March.