Tony Mowbray believes if Sunderland had scored once against Preston they could have gone on to score three or four. The Black Cats were held to a goalless draw by a Preston side that boasts the Championship's tightest defence, having kept eight clean sheets and conceded only four goals in 11 games so far.
Sunderland dominated possession against the Lancashire side at the Stadium of Light but could not breach Preston's back line. Sunderland's cause was not helped by the fact that, with Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms injured, they have no centre-forwards available but Mowbray refused to use that as an excuse - pointing out that they had scored five goals in their previous two games at Reading and Watford without Stewart and Simms.
But he did say that those goals came on the road, and that at times it can be more difficult to score at home because teams are harder to tempt out of their defensive shape. "We had attacking players on the pitch," said Mowbray. "Patrick [Roberts] scored two against Reading, and we've scored five in our last two away games.
