Tony Mowbray insists Sunderland deserved their last-gasp win against Blackburn Rovers after they came from behind to win at the Stadium of Light. The Black Cats recovered after Ross Stewart scored an unfortunate own-goal inside the opening 20 minutes, with the Scot winning a penalty just minutes later which he went on to convert.
And then in injury-time at the end of the match, sub Ellis Simms scored a dramatic winning goal to give Mowbray's new club victory against his former employers. "Ultimately, I think we deserved the victory," said Mowbray.
"We played a good side today with some really talented young players, but I thought that we were pretty dominant in the first half - most of the play was going in the direction of their goal. They scored from a set-play, they have four huge 6ft 3in players in [Ben] Brereton Diaz, [Sam] Gallagher, [Daniel] Ayala and [Dominic] Hyam, so it is always difficult to defend against them, and it was a ricochet really, wasn't it?
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"Somebody told me Blackburn haven't lost a game this season when they have scored first - I don't know if that's right, but it was a great effort from us to fight to the death and keep going and get the winner. It was important to get back in the game as quickly as they did, because that stat [Blackburn not losing after taking the lead this season] suggests they slow the game down, they play a lot of possession stuff in their defensive third, they try and wait for you.
"They are a good side and it was important to get back and get the crowd wrapped up in the game, and it was important to see them engage right to the final whistle. I'm pleased for the players, pleased for the supporters, and for those people who live away from the area and who have come back and had not seen the team this season.
"Hopefully we've sent a lot of Sunderland supporters home happy today and they can enjoy their Christmas."
With the game poised at 1-1 , Mowbray made attacking changes late in the game as he changed the team's shape and sent on Simms to play alongside Stewart up front, with the move paying off handsomely. He said: "I've managed for 20 years now, and you have to have a feel for what each club that you manage is about.
"This club expects. I know we've come out of League One and we were playing a team that was third in the league, but this club expects. This club's mission statement is about being bold and industrious and creative, and as head coach here it is my job to put a team out on the pitch that reflects that - to bring attackers on and try to win football matches rather than settle for draws."
However, Sunderland's win came at a cost in terms of injuries. The Black Cats lost two more players during the course of the match, with full-backs Lynden Gooch [hamstring] and Dennis Cirkin [knee] limping off in the second half, to join Danny Batth [calf], and Aji Alese, who missed out today with a foot problem, on the sidelines.
It means Mowbray will have some thinking to do before Sunderland head across the Pennines to face Wigan on Thursday night, with the team due to stay in the North-West to prepare for their New Year's Day game at Blackpool. Mowbray said: "Defensively, we have some issues to deal with in the next few days and see what we are going to look like at Wigan.
"It's part of football. We spent nearly three months without any strikers but we found a way, and we'll find a way without four pretty key defenders. Aji was injured, he has an ankle/foot injury.
"He has had injections, he has had orthotics put in his boots to support his foot. It's not an injury as such where he is out for six weeks or something, it's a mechanical injury that is giving him some grief and the specialists are working on it and trying to make it easier for him.
"I'm hoping it'll only be a week or so, but I don't think he is going to make this trip to the North-West. Danny Batth isn't far away, maybe another week or two.
"Gooch has got a huge icepack on his hamstring so it doesn't look good for this week. Dennis took a kick on the outside of his knee, and he was struggling to plant and push off. Let's wait and see, we probably need to get scans on these type of injuries."
He added: "We also have to be careful with Dan Ballard because he has been out so long. I went into the game thinking we would take Ross Stewart off and replace him with Ellis Simms, and replace Ballard with [Bailey] Wright just to protect them.
"The nature of the game dictated that we had to keep going because we could smell we could score."
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