Tony Mowbray insists he had no concerns about playing Luke O'Nien at West Bromwich Albion - even though the game came less than 24 hours after his wife had given birth, and he had been on the road since dawn. While the rest of the Sunderland team travelled by bus to the Midlands on Saturday, O'Nien stayed on Wearside to be with his family before being driven down to West Bromwich first thing on Sunday morning.
With Sunderland in the grip of a central defensive injury crisis, he was needed to play in the middle of a back three against the Baggies. O'Nien gave away a controversial penalty for a foul on John Swift on the stroke of half-time at The Hawthorns - a decision described as 'really soft' by Mowbray - with Swift then converting from the spot.
But Sunderland came back, and Dennis Cirkin scored twice in the second half against play-off rivals West Brom to earn his team a win that lifted them into a top six spot. Asked about O'Nien's preparations, Mowbray said: "The plan for Luke was to get up early and leave at 5.30am to get here in time for breakfast with the team and then play.
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"It would have been his first night with the new baby. He's just a really impressive human being, and I've got no fears that whatever Luke chooses to do with his life after football he will be a success because he is a driven guy.
"I had no worries that he wouldn't turn up yesterday and give a performance. It's great credit to him. Less than a day after his child was born, he's out there playing and in the middle of it."
Of the penalty he added: "I thought it was a really soft penalty, to be honest. I didn't see a lot of contact until the boy was on the floor, just about.
"It was great that we could recover from that and get the three points."
Mowbray has frequently praised the versatile O'Nien, who has played in central defence and both full-back roles at various times over the course of the campaign. He said: "Luke is an amazing human being, really.
"He's a unique type of footballer, I'm not sure I've come across too many like him. He sets up his own businesses, has his own podcasts, talks about developing young people into leaders - he's having discussions with me about pre-season and asking me what the non-negotiables are. I'm thinking 'Luke, you just concentrate on passing it to us and winning a few headers!'
"It [the birth] is great for him and his family."
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