Tony Mowbray insists 'diamond' Luke O'Nien will learn from his red card mistake against Swansea City - and says he has no worries that the incident will play on his mind. O'Nien was sent off inside the opening 20 minutes of Sunderland's weekend home defeat at the hands of the Swans after being shown a straight red card for a bad challenge on Oli Cooper.
The dismissal changed the game, with Sunderland having been on top up to that point but once they went down to ten men it allowed Swansea to dominate and they ended up winning 3-1. But Mowbray has praised O'Nien numerous times this season and remains a big fan of the versatile defender.
"Luke is a diamond of a kid," said Mowbray. "He's apologised to the dressing room there but he doesn't really need to.
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"At the end of the day, I'm the guy who fires them up to make sure they do both sides of the game. They have to believe in their talent and be brave and play with the ball how we want to play in possession, but then when you play against a team that is possession-based you have to show the other side of the game.
"You have to compete, tackle, press and push in so that we're better than them because we're doing both sides of the game better than them."
O'Nien's card carries a three-game suspension, ruling him out of this weekend's home game against Middlesbrough, the FA Cup fourth round tie at Fulham a week on Saturday, and the trip to Millwall the following weekend. Mowbray had no complaints about the card, and says O'Nien will leanr from the experience.
He said: "I've no worries about Luke O'Nien. He'll know, because he'll watch it back like he does with every single clip of every single game he plays.
"If you look at the laws of the game, it is about the intensity and the force of the challenge, and it was a pretty forceful challenge. If you don't make the ball then you're in trouble, as we've all seen.
"I've got no worries at all about Luke O'Nien, and it's done now. He'll be more thoughtful next time round, I've no doubt."
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