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Tony Mowbray gives a frank assessment of Sunderland’s victory and the important half-time adjustment.
In response to Sunderland’s 3-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, Tony Mowbray
Although Tony Mowbray acknowledged that his Sunderland team was outplayed for considerable portions of the first half at Blackburn Rovers, he celebrated the accomplishment as a turning point in their progression because it was the first time they had won three consecutive Championship games.
Blackburn had more trouble with them than any other team this season, producing a string of great chances that were only denied by some poor finishing and some exceptional last-ditch defending. Jack Clarke and Dan Neil had given the Black Cats a 2-1 lead at halftime.
At halftime, Mowbray instructed his team to increase their level of effort, and while the hosts continued to provide a threat after that, Sunderland also posed a threat on the break, and Clarke went on to score his fifth goal of the year to seal the victory.
The head coach said it was a lesson for his side but praised them for finding a way to win.
“I’d like to put on record that they’re an amazingly talented team, very well coached,” Mowbray said.
“They gave us lots of problems, we talked a lot about getting the intensity levels right off the back of two big wins. It can be really difficult with a young team. and I was trying to make them aware that they were playing against a very talented team who overload central areas and get it through to your box. They did that for half an hour so and gave us lots of problems.
“We scored at good times.
“We sorted a few things out at half time, we needed to be more aggressive and we were, we kept turning it over and I felt we looked a real threat right through the second half. I felt we could score goals on the break in that second half.
“The only thing I talked to them about at half time was the intensity. If you sit off a good football team, they will pass round you. You can’t stand off good players and we played a really good team today.
“They played through us for half an hour and as soon as someone gets tight and wins a 50-50, and the ball breaks for us and we’re off, we looked like we could score. Everyone was doing that in the second half and I felt then we were a real good threat.
“I’ve been challenging them to go and win three in a row, because even though we finished sixth last season we were never able to do
“It’s really hard to do that in the Championship, and especially with a young team because the emotion of winning two games, you think you’re a really, really good team. It was a big test for us tonight because we didn’t dominate possession as we did in other games, even against Ipswich and Preston we had a lot of the ball and a lot of shots.
“Tonight the opposition were better than us for long spells in the first half, but the intensity we found in the second half swung the game.”
Mowbray also confirmed that Jewison Benette’s absence from the matchday squad was due to illness.
