Tony Mowbray admitted his Sunderland side “fell short” as they were pegged back to a 1-1 draw by Huddersfield that has dented their hopes of making the Sky Bet Championship play-offs.
The Black Cats looked to be heading into the top six when Joe Gelhardt fired them into the lead shortly before the interval at the Stadium of Light.
But Josh Koroma equalised for Huddersfield just before the hour mark, and it was the visitors who looked the likelier winners as they spent most of the final half-hour camped in the Sunderland half.
Mowbray said: “We didn’t get to the levels that we needed to win the game. They picked a really athletic team that looked as if they were set up to break on us in the spaces like some teams have done, knowing that we couldn’t really run in behind.
“We had to try and play through them, knowing that we would be in trouble if we turned the ball over.
“So, I thought it was a bit scrappy, we didn’t have enough men in forward areas because we were mindful of that threat if we lost it.
“We’re frustrated with the goal we lost, he (Koroma) carries the ball too far and we’ve got to tackle him.
“I’ve just aired my frustration with the team because if we’re going to be a team that challenges then you have to bring it every night, and we fell a bit short of that.”
Mowbray picked an extremely attacking starting XI, but while the result has taken Sunderland to within a point of the play-off positions, they have now played at least a game more than almost all of the sides around them in the table
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Mowbray said: “If we hadn’t played enough attacking players and drew, I’d have been beating myself up.
“We felt it was the right decision to try and have five attacking threats, I felt we just fell a little bit short of the crispness that we normally play with. We didn’t quite click.”
The draw has lifted Huddersfield two points clear of the relegation zone with three games remaining, and Neil Warnock feels the Terriers have given themselves a fighting chance of survival.
They looked doomed before the 74-year-old was appointed in mid-February, but with two of their remaining matches pitting them against relegation rivals Cardiff and Reading, their fate is in their own hands.
Warnock said: “Five weeks ago, we didn’t have any chance. We’d only picked up six points away, and we had all the top teams to play.
“But it’s amazing what you can do with a group of lads if they start believing in you. They all need telling what to do, but that’s not rocket science, and they’ve really responded.
“People like Josh Ruffels and Josh Koroma had been bombed out before I came. And yet they’ll probably get contracts now because of me, they’re both doing well.
“I don’t know how Ruffels is playing like he is, but it’s nice to see lads like that give everything. And then the fans go home happy.
“We’ve got momentum now, and hopefully we can keep it going. You can see the difference from five weeks ago, we can give anyone a good game now, and I don’t think it matters whether we’re playing at home or away.”
