Sunderland 'punched above their weight' but fell just short in the Championship play-offs - and boss Tony Mowbray has vowed they will be back all the stronger next season. The Black Cats were beaten 2-0 by Luton Town at Kenilworth Road in the second leg of their semi-final tie, which meant they missed out on a Wembley appearance as their 2-1 first-leg lead was overturned and they lost 3-2 on aggregate.
But while Mowbray's disappointment was there for all to see when he spoke to the media after the game, so was his pride at the achievements of his young team who had to contend with a catalogue of injuries and yet finished sixth in their first season back in the second tier. "I'm very proud of the team, very proud of the supporters and very proud of the city of Sunderland," said Mowbray.
"We'll get stronger and we'll be back next season. First and foremost, we have to talk about the team, and how proud I am of these young lads who week-in, week-out, have given everything they've got.
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"We've got some pretty good footballers, and we've won plenty of games this year. I do think the league will be stronger next season.
"Never mind the teams coming down from the Premier League, the teams coming up from League One are strong, with big crowds. We have to keep building and growing, and we have to get better and find a way to keep our players more available to play the football matches for us.
"I think we've been saying that we're going in the right direction. We came out of League One, and maybe consolidation might have been what the club was thinking about. And yet the team has punched above their weight with that, with the backing of the people who come to the away games and come to the Stadium of Light and watch us every week. We've managed to punch above mediocrity. We've gone close, but unfortunately, we just fell short."
Luton ruthlessly exploited Sunderland's lack of height, bombarding the penalty area with high balls and capitalising on two set-pieces in the first half. Gabe Osho put them ahead on the night, and levelled the tie on aggregate, after ten minutes when he forced the ball home from close range following a corner.
And then, just before half-time, Tom Lockyer headed home as Luton kept the pressure on following another corner and it was that goal that eventually booked the Hatters a place in the Wembley final on Saturday week. Mowbray admitted: "We're all disappointed.
"We knew what was coming. It was a physical confrontation, really. They were very direct. We knew that was happening, and they scored from set-plays. There was always the potential for that, it happened on Saturday [in the first leg]. It was frustrating we couldn't score last night.
"We feel as though we're always going to score a goal, even without our main striker [the injured Ross Stewart], so we're frustrated. We are without some major attributes and assets that this football team has got at their disposal, but they're not there at the moment because of the injury situation at the club.
"There's potentially eight players who might have started last night [who were] unavailable, and they're mainly 6ft-plus players who would have seen off their physical threat. With total respect to Luton, I'm not sure there's a lot else that we would have had to deal with.
"It's football. We have to accept it, and we wish them well. I had a 19-year football career [as a player] and you have good days and you have bad days. You have days where you have to learn from, and hopefully there's not too many of them for this group."
Mowbray also praised Luton, adding: "They played with huge intensity on a tight pitch, in a tight environment and with a crowd that was fully behind their team. It's hard to get them off your back.
"They get the ball as far away from their goal as they can, and if you're going to try to pass through it, you have to be good at doing that. They played with a real intensity, and you give them credit for that. That's how I saw the game really. Their intensity was high and they won a lot of duels in midfield.
"We knew we had to compete, and we tried to compete, but they're a big, strong physical team, with some big lads who are athletic, and tonight that was enough to get them through. Other nights it wouldn't be."
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