Sunderland boss unhappy with Blackpool draw: 'A missed opportunity to put down a marker'

Tony Mowbray described Sunderland’s draw at Blackpool as ‘a missed opportunity to put down a marker.’

Sunderland went to Bloomfield Road in confident mood after back-to-back wins over Blackburn and Wigan, but a sluggish start saw them chasing the game from midway through the first half.

They were able to salvage a point due to a Ross Stewart header, but Mowbray was not satisfied despite his side’s battles with injury and illness.

"We controlled the game after the first 20 minutes and we're left really frustrated that we didn't win," Mowbray said.

"I think there was only one team going to win it in the second half but the chances kept coming and we kept missing them.

"Seven points from nine is a good return but this was an opportunity missed, and you can't keep missing opportunities if you really want to put down a marker - you have to keep winning the games you should be winning.

"I don't think they were dominating in the first half necessarily, I just think we weren't as good as we needed to be.

"We started pretty slowly. We changed formation mid-half to give us more targets and I thought after about 25 minutes we started to control the game.

"In the end we're really frustrated we didn't win the game and I think that's fair, we created a lot of chances in the second half.”

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