Tony Mowbray says his decision to start Pierre Ekwah at Cardiff City was partially a show of faith in the youngster after his costly late error against Hull City in Sunderland's previous game. Ekwah came off the bench but the midfielder gave away an injury-time penalty against Hull, with the Tigers converting to earn a 4-4 draw in a wild Good Friday game on Wearside.
In the immediate aftermath, Mowbray put the mistake down to 'naivety' and inexperience, given that the 21-year-old had played just 160 minutes of senior league football in his career and had made his first league start only the week before in a goalless draw at Championship leaders - and now Premier League-bound - Burnley. But when Sunderland travelled to Cardiff on Easter Monday, Mowbray included Ekwah from the start and he responded with a mature performance as the Black Cats won 1-0 in South Wales.
Asked whether part of the reasoning behind starting Ekwah at Cardiff was as a public show of confidence in the January signing from West Ham, Mowbray said: "It was a bit of it. You have to support young players.
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"I'm trying to give him some gametime and get his some starts because he has taken on board some of the messages that he has had constantly for the last eight weeks or however long he's been here. I've been watching him and telling him again and again in training and the penny has dropped, but you then have to allow him to take it onto the pitch.
"But we've also got Edouard [Michut] who is a really talented boy, so we are looking at each particular game and what we think the team needs - if we need to be solid, disciplined and have a bit of physicality, it might be a day for Pierre, or if we think we're going to have lots and lots of the ball and play through the lines then it might be a day for Michut. We've also go Dan Neil, who balances it off. That's the mindset."
Mowbray is convinced that Ekwah can have a big future ahead of him if he continues to learn. He said: "We had to calm him down in training yesterday because he caught a few with tackles that, a month ago, he wouldn't have through about making. I think the penny is dropping.
"It was great that he started against Burnley and we were the first team in a year to stop them from scoring at home and he was very much a part of that. He's been really positive, taking on board the information and I'm sure Pierre will have a big future as long as he keeps growing, keeps developing, and keeps working on his game."
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