Sunderland boss on Stoke defeat: 'I want to apologise to supporters'

Tony Mowbray has apologised to Sunderland supporters for the dreadful result and performance against Stoke City.

Sunderland slipped to a third successive defeat against the Potters and they were almost unrecognisable from the team that has impressed so much this season.

The performance left Mowbray questioning the bravery of the players afterwards, and he has now apologised to the supporters too for his side failing to ‘compete’ during the game.

"It's very unlike us [to lose that heavily],” Mowbray said. “We have to keep pushing with what we think is the best way for this team to play, and I hope that's given a lot of people of joy across the season so far.

"That hasn't happened today and I apologise to the supporters who came today because we want to be the best version of ourselves.

"We want to be a team who dominates the ball and it's a learning curve for us - the better you become at it, the braver you become with it.

“The disappointing thing for me is, you can lose confidence but you have to still compete, and the result reflects the disappointment of us all at how that game unfolded. We're normally a very competitive team."

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