Tony Mowbray was left 'frustrated and disappointed' after Sunderland blew the opportunity to move into the Championship play-off places. The Black Cats were held to a 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light by relegation battlers Huddersfield Town, slowing the Wearsiders' momentum as they look to challenge for a top-six spot.
Joe Gelhardt put them in front in the first half and a win would have seen them move up to sixth place - at least for 24 hours until the remainder of the midweek programme is played. But Josh Koroma levelled on the hour and the draw meant Sunderland climbed only to eighth, a point outside the play-off places.
"We're frustrated tonight because it was a real opportunity to keep pushing on," said Mowbray. "We didn't get to the levels we needed to win the game.
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"They are fighting for every point, they picked a really athletic team tonight who looked to me like they were set up to break on us into the spaces like some teams have done, knowing we couldn't really threaten them in behind. So we had to play through them and that's pretty dangerous - if you turn over, you're in trouble, and we had to be mindful of that.
"So it was scrappy and we didn't have enough men in forward areas, because we were mindful of what might happen if we lost the ball. Yet we were frustrated with the goal we lost.
"The guy [Koroma] stayed on the ball for too long, really, he travelled 30 or 40 yards and whacked it in the top corner - someone has got to tackle him. I haven't had a go at them, as such, I have just aired my frustration because if they are going to be a team that genuinely challenges then you have to find consistency and you have to be able to bring it every game.
"I think we fell a bit short tonight of the levels that we can reach. The top, top teams - when they need a goal, it's like the Alamo. You're camped in and you can't get out of your box, never mind your half.
"We have to be able to do that to teams, to lock them in, create waves of attacks, but we couldn't manage to do that tonight. At our best, I think we can do that to teams but we fell a bit short tonight."
Sunderland went into the game on the back of a win at Cardiff City last Monday, and then a weekend home win against Birmingham City. Mowbray said: "We're frustrated, we're disappointed, it was an opportunity.
"We've had two home games, a chance to get six points, because we have then got some tough games against teams with similar aspirations to us. If we can go to West Brom [on Sunday] and win, maybe tonight will be an OK point.
"We have to stay confident and believe and stay positive. Sometimes, playing away from home suits this group of players because we can play in the spaces as teams generally attack you.
"There's no fear of going to West Brom. We'll be well-prepared and hopefully we can go there and find a way to get three points and make the last couple of games really exciting.
"Watford is the last home game and hopefully it will be a really big day for all the Sunderland fans and we can take it to the last day."
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