The deeper into the season Sunderland's play-off challenge extends, the more Tony Mowbray plays it down. 'There're no aspirations to do anything this season,' he said after his side's 3-0 win at QPR at Loftus Road, 'there's nobody putting pressure on me to keep in the play-off race'.
Sunderland's latest victory saw them climb to fifth place in the Championship table - above sides such as Norwich City, Watford, and West Bromwich Albion, who certainly do have promotion aspirations - as the season entered its final third. And, much as Mowbray prefers to keep a lid on expectations, the longer his side continues to hover and in and around the top six, the more supporters' hope will rise.
Ahead of this game, Mowbray had spoken of the need to rest some of his players after admitting they had looked a little fatigued in the weekend win at Reading. When asked about his side's promotion prospects, he had talked about squad depth and quality and the likelihood that, if Sunderland ultimately fall short, it could be the lack of experienced older heads that costs them, now that skipper Corry Evans has been ruled out for the remainder of the season as has top scorer Ross Stewart.
