Tony Mowbray is happy with Sunderland's four-point haul after two tough away games - but feels the Black Cats could have been celebrating back-to-back wins on the road. Sunderland beat high-flying Reading 3-0 in midweek and followed that with a 2-2 draw against a Watford side expected to be pushing for promotion after they dropped out of the Premier League last season.
The Black Cats twice came from behind against the Hornets at Vicarage Road, but Mowbray says his side created enough opportunities to win the game, pointing to a goal that was ruled out for a tight offside decision, two penalty appeals that were waved away, and a gilt-edged chance missed by sub Leon Dajaku. "Four points on the road against two clubs, one with very big expectation to do well and the other that had started the season really well, it's been a very good week for us," said Mowbray.
"We'll take the four points. The lads were a bit disappointed with some of the decisions, to be honest.
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"They think Jack Clarke's goal might have been onside, and they think they might have had a penalty in each half. Leon maybe should have scored when he was clean through one-on-one with the goalie but put it past the post.
"It was a game we could have taken three points from."
Mowbray also admitted that Watford's, quality, strength, and size, meant they were always a threat. He said: "You could feel Watford's threat as well.
"The individual footballers, the quality they have got, the strength, the speed, the size - you could feel they had Premier League footballers on the pitch, really. That was always a concern for us, yet we found a way to not lose the game.
"If you look at the make-up of our team, there's only Danny Batth and Aji [Alese] who are over 6ft. Watford's team must have six or seven players who were 6ft-plus, and every set-play was a concern.
"We gave too many cheap set-plays away and that invited pressure on ourselves, and ultimately they scored from one in the second half."
On-loan Aston Villa forward Keinan Davis put Watford ahead ten minutes before half-time, before Alese levelled on the stroke of half-time with his first goal for the club - and it was given by goalline technology, which alerted referee John Busby that the shot had crossed the line before it was cleared. In the second period, Luke O'Nien scored an unfortunate own-goal against the club where he began his career, but substitute Jewison Bennette earned the Black Cats a point with a smart finish a couple of minutes from time as the teenage Costa Rica international scored his first goal in English football.
"The substitutes made an impact again," said Mowbray. "They did on Wednesday night and then they came on today and I think they were really positive and played with a freedom running forward and created chances.
"I was delighted for Jewison to get the goal. I can feel our threat on a transition when we pick the first pass, and if [Patrick] Roberts can get somebody squared up one-on-one and slips somebody in, you can feel that we can threaten the opposition goal.
"I've managed some teams where you might play nice football but you don't feel you're ever going to score, but this team feels that it is going to score goals on transition. If the other team is a bit weak or doesn't have the right numbers back, we will pick the right pass, get in behind you, and score."
The week's work means Sunderland head into the international break sitting in fifth place in the Championship, before resuming their campaign at home to Preston in a fortnight's time. Mowbray said: "We've got the international break now to rest up, first and foremost, try to get a few fit again, try to get any centre-forwards fit and on the pitch, and look forward to Preston in a couple of weeks' time."
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