Tony Mowbray was full of praise for his Sunderland side after their impressive win at Reading. The Black Cats shrugged off the setback of losing striker Ellis Simms to injury - leaving them without any recognised frontman - to score three times at the Madejski Stadium, ending the Royals' 100 percent home record in the process, in front of around 2,000 fans who had made the journey from Wearside.
"It was a good performance," said Mowbray. "Despite their home record, which I believe was unblemished this season, we looked at them, we had a few days to work with them, and we believed that if everybody did the basics well we could win tonight.
"It was good to score three goals. It's amazing to see how many people travelled from Sunderland on a Wednesday night - it's incredible really, but it doesn't surprise me as a football club, because it is a massive beast and we need to keep trying to feed it.
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"I'm pleased for the supporters and for that group of players in the dressing room."
In the run-up to the game, there was a questionmark over where the goals would come from with leading scorer Ross Stewart ruled out for at least six weeks with a thigh injury, leaving Simms as the club's only senior centre-forward. And when Simms then limped out of the action before half-time with a toe injury, things could have gone badly wrong.
But instead Patrick Roberts almost immediately scored two goals in as many minutes, before Jack Clarke finished a brilliant move 20 minutes from time to ensure that Sunderland earned the points their performance deserved. Mowbray said: "We spent two days in the build-up to the game, mainly with the attackers trying to sort out who was going to get into the box, how we were going to score, what type of goals we were going to score.
"They were fantastic goals. You'd have to say they weren't Ross Stewart-type goals - he generally plays between the sticks and finishes off crosses or whatever.
"It was just magic from Patrick, and from Jack with his being more of a team goal. I've spoken before about soldiers and artists.
"While artists score amazing goals, the soldiers have to keep a clean sheet and win the battles in midfield. They all did that, and the combination and the balance of the team was good."
Mowbray also gave Costa Rica international Jewison Bennette his debut from the bench, and only a smart save by Joe Lumley with his feet prevented the 19-year-old marking the occasion with a goal. "It's great to have options off the bench, even if they are untried and untested," said Mowbray.
"This young kid [Bennette] has come from Costa Rica two weeks ago, he hardly speaks a word of English, yet he nearly scored last night, making the keeper make a save."
Summer signing Aji Alese also impressed on his first league start for the club, stepping into the defensive role vacated by Dennis Cirkin following his hamstring injury. Mowbray said: "I'm really pleased for him. Since I've been here, a couple of weeks, he hasn't been playing but he hasn't moaned.
"Then Dennis gets an injury and ... you have to have faith in these lads.
"The squad is quite tight, we've only got about 20 outfield players and you have to trust them. They showed last night that they can cope with it."
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