Tony Mowbray reveals the strong, upbeat message he just had for his Sunderland players after frustrating defeat

Mowbray opted for a Wengerian approach when discussing the controversial goals, insisting that he hadn’t yet seen a replay of either incident.

Sunderland felt they should have had a penalty kick for a trip on Jack Clarke seconds before Ben Brereton Diaz scored a stunning opening goal, while there appeared to be a clear offside as Ryan Hedges scored shortly after the interval.

Mowbray felt his side had lacked the cutting edge that much of their approach play deserved, as the lack of a senior striker again posed a major hurdle.

He insists his team are going to be a serious proposition when Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms return.

“I haven’t seen any either of the incidents, I’ve been told that we were unfortunate,” he said.

“What can you do, I’ve said before that I don’t want to talk about referees all the time but it’s difficult. I don’t want to be that guy who blames the referee.

“It was a bit of deja vu I think for us, dominating possession in the game but not having that key component for any team to win football matches, and we’ve been without them for six or seven games. There was lots of good things and I’ve just said to them: Listen, when you get your centre forwards back you will win football matches if you create as many opportunities around the box as you are at the moment. With a striker of the movement and the capabilities of Ross Stewart…

“We have to keep going, keep believing and look forward to [when they’re back]. In the meantime we have to keep working on ways to be more ruthless, to get more people into the box as I’ve talked long and hard back.

“I’ve just said to Jack about pulling the trigger a few more times… you look at Patrick Roberts and if there’s a better player in this league I haven’t seen him yet. We just have to keep going and once the components of the team are in place, and the strikers are there to finish off the good approach play, I think we are going to be fine.

“I’m not sure they had a shot before Brereton Diaz scores a brilliant finish, and I didn’t really feel a threat from them. Late on they were a threat in the transition, Brereton can carry it a long way. Generally the team we were in the ascendancy, though of course them being in the lead plays a part.

“They’re a good team with really good players, we just have to keep going. We’ve scored goals and so we have to keep going. We’re on a journey, you know you aren’t going to roll teams over when you come into this league. You have to grow and develop. We’re going to be a difficult task for any opposition when we get all the components together. Hopefully by time we play them again later this year we have some different threats in our team.”

Sunderland are back in action against Burnley at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.