Tony Mowbray will not waste time worrying about results elsewhere on the final day of the Championship season, insisting he can only affect Sunderland's game at Preston. The Black Cats must win at Deepdale on Monday to stand any chance of securing a top six finish, although they will also need help from elsewhere - either Middlesbrough to beat Coventry City at the Riverside Stadium, or Millwall to drop points against Blackburn Rovers at The Den.
But, with Sunderland needing all three points regardless of what happens in the other games, Mowbray sees no point in being kept in touch with events in the other games. His sole focus will be on helping his team fulfil their side of the deal in Lancashire and, as far as the other games are concerned, whatever will be, will be.
"I don't think there's any purpose to finding out what's going on elsewhere – we just need to win," said Mowbray. "The only focus for me will be to win the game.
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"I'm sure there'll be people whispering in my ear, telling me what's going on, but I won't be demanding that the analyst feeds anything down [to me] because the sole focus has to be on winning the game. Then, if everybody else wins and we miss out, so be it.
"We can only do what we can do. We won't be overly worried about anything else. It won't be a situation where you're thinking, 'A draw would get you through so let's just sit in the last ten minutes'. We have to go and win.
"I like the clarity of that. That's what we'll be trying to do."
Sunderland's 2-2 draw against Watford means they go into the final day sitting seventh, two points outside the play-offs, while had they beaten the Hornets they would have been sixth. That would have given them the advantage of knowing a win would likely have been enough to reach the play-offs regardless of other results, but it may also have complicated matters insofar as a draw - or even a defeat - might have been enough, depending on how the other games were going.
Mowbray said: "If we were sitting sixth now and thinking, 'Oh, a draw might be enough' then that can complicate things. It's easy for us – we have to go and win, so we'll be really positive from the off.
"I don't think we need to be cagey. It's not nice sometimes when you're 1-0 up going into the last ten minutes and you've got people whispering in your ear saying, 'a draw's enough'.
"You don't know if things are going to change in the last few minutes that might affect it. Knowing that you've got to win means it's pretty simple right the way through to the end, no matter how long that end takes.
"It could be 95 minutes or 100 minutes, but we'll just keep going to the end knowing that come that end, we need to be coming out with three points."
Five teams still have a chance of finishing in one of the two available play-off places, with Luton Town and Boro having already sewn up the other two spots. Aside from Sunderland, Coventry, Millwall, Blackburn and West Bromwich Albion are the other contenders.
Sunderland do have a better goal difference than all their rivals except Coventry - although the Sky Blues' two-goal advantage would be wiped out if they lose and the Black Cats win - and they have also scored significantly more goals than the others. "The goal difference side of things is pretty positive for us," said Mowbray.
"If Coventry get beat 1-0 and we win 1-0, then the goals scored would take us above Coventry even though the goal difference would be the same. Everybody's aware of all that stuff.
"Our goal difference is pretty positive, but we know we have to go and win the game. There's not going to be a scenario where we're unsure whether we should be attacking or defending. Let's go and try to win."
Sunderland's opponents Preston have nothing to play for on the final day, with their hopes ending on the penultimate weekend of the season along with those of Norwich City and Swansea City. Around 6,000 Sunderland fans will be at Deepdale in yet another sold-out away end but, while the atmosphere will be tense in the stands, Mowbray is determined to try and keep things as normal as possible for his players.
He said: "I want to make it as normal as I can for them. I'm very conscious that I don't want to do anything different. There won't be any extra presentations, I don't want an extra day’s training.
"Sometimes, you can do that for a cup final because a cup final is a cup final. But this is just the next game really. Let's go and play as we have been doing.
"The game preparation will be the same as for Norwich away, Burnley away, Cardiff away. They've all been the same, and I think it's important we do that."
Injuries have stripped Sunderland of their most experienced and influential players, with the likes of Corry Evans, Danny Batth, and Ross Stewart sidelined, although they have still been on hand to support their teammates around the Academy of Light and in the dressing room. Whether they come to Preston on the final day is another matter, with Mowbray open to such a move but insisting he will not push anyone into it.
He said: "I say to the injured lads all the time that they can come to the game any time. They're family men, but if they want to come, they can come.
"For the sake of an £80 room in a hotel or whatever it is, that's not an issue for the football club - if they want to come, they can come. Some of them go themselves.
"Corry's probably got a property in the North-West, so maybe he'll stay there and come over. But I don’t dictate that they have to go.
"Generally, they come to the games even if they're injured, if they're in the vicinity. They don't have to come though. It's not a rule I lay down."
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