Tony Mowbray makes Sunderland play-off admission as he outlines new plan

Tony Mowbray has appeared to admit the play-offs have slipped away from Sunderland as he outlined his plan to give fringe players greater opportunities in the run-in.

Sunderland have been around the top ten in the Championship all season and have at times occupied a play-off spot.

That is some going for a club who came into the season on the back of four years in League One.

The draw with Luton has left Sunderland seven points adrift of the top six, though, and it is increasingly difficult to see them making a late run to haul themselves back into contention.

However, that will mean a chance to push ahead with the development of young players, with the likes of Pierre Ekwah, Isaac Lihadji, Jewison Bennette, Abdoullah Ba and Joe Anderson now set opportunities between now and the end of the season.

When asked if it was perhaps now time to give the fringe players more game time, Mowbray said: “I think we’ll look to do that.

"Whilst we’re still in touch and feeling it [was possible], and every question about whether we could make the play-offs because we were only three or four points off it, then I think it’s a different conversation.

"But I think the opportunity is potentially there now to blood some of these young players a bit and see how they go. There has to be a balance because we still want to win. We’ve got Huddersfield and Birmingham to play at home, for example, and I’m sure the fans will expect to win.

“Rightly so, because we’ll expect to win too. So if I’m playing four new kids who have hardly ever played, and we get beat 1-0, then nobody’s going to be happy.

"So, it’s a balance, and I have to try to get that balance right between some experience and quality that can win the game and trying to bring in and give game time to some of these young lads who we hope are going to become regulars.

“That’s the conundrum, really. When do we just want to win, and when do we want to grow and develop these young players into first-team footballers that could become stars?

"That’s what happened to Amad. Amad didn’t play too much at first, he was on the bench a lot, a bit like Jewison, Ba and Michut.

“They were all on the bench together, and it’s only really his personal levels that have meant that he’s ended up playing more games. Hopefully, some of these young lads will follow the same path."

Read more Sunderland news