Tony Mowbray reveals the half-time message that sparked his Sunderland side's brilliant comeback

It looked as if it would be another frustrating afternoon for the Black Cats when Charlie Wyke put Wigan Athletic ahead just before the break, but Elliot Embleton and Dennis Cirkin scored to complete a stirring turnaround.

Mowbray had switched his side to a 4-4-2 at the interval, with Amad making a good impression from the bench, but the head coach said most important was the attitude his side showed on the ball.

"We were really good in the first ten minutes of the half but after that it was too slow,” Mowbray said.

"We talked at half time about quickening everything up, take throws in quickly and free kicks quickly," Mowbray said.

"Let's play, move the ball and play behind them. There's too many players wanting to come to the ball.

"I told them I'm not interested in possession stats, I want to see shots.

"We scored a couple of goals and looked a threat. I think we looked comfortable in the first half and conceding came as a shock to us.

"We've got good quality footballers but I want to challenge them to play at a high tempo, to play in behind the opposition. The very best teams have a line of five or six right up the pitch, not eight players behind the ball.

"These are the things we have to work on. We're integrating young players but we have to win along the way, so it's an important three points.

"We've drawn 0-0 in the last two home games which has been frustrating for us, so this was important. We had a lot of good moments in the second half.

"I want us to be a brave football team and we were there."

Mowbray said his team could go into a challenging run of fixtures with confidence and thanked the home support for their patience in what had been a challenging period with no recognised strikers.

“Today was an important game for us, we've drawn the last two home games 0-0,” Mowbray admitted.

“I'm pleased for everybody.

“I'd like to thank the supporters [for sticking with us], we've had two 0-0 draws here and I know that they expect us to win, I know it will have been frustrating.

“We have to get accustomed to this level again. It's better football and it's not easy, you're not going to roll straight through it.

“I just want the players to feel comfortable in the division, every team gives you a tough game.

"We have more tough fixtures coming up but we should go with a confidence that we can match anyone at this level.”

Sunderland travel to a Blackburn Rovers side on Tuesday who’ve made a strong start to the Championship campaign and sealed a 2-1 win away at Middlesbrough to continue that on Saturday afternoon.