Tony Mowbray hails second-half Sunderland response in win over Millwall

Posted Saturday, December 03, 2022 by PA

Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray praised the reaction of his side in the second half as they claimed a 3-0 win over Millwall to climb into the Championship’s top 10.

The Black Cats were second best for most of the opening period at the Stadium of Light but made it to the break level thanks to some committed defending and a couple of missed Millwall opportunities.

Things were totally different after the break, with Amad Diallo opening the scoring in the 53rd minute and Alex Pritchard adding a second goal five minutes later.

Ellis Simms completed the scoring in stoppage time, tapping home after Millwall goalkeeper George Long misjudged a long clearance.

Mowbray said: “I wasn’t too happy after the first half. I was honest in saying I felt they’d come second best in a fight. We never got any fluency in our game and they won too many second balls.

“They reacted really well and it shows the fine margins in football.

“I know we’ve got the quality to hurt teams but too often in the first half Millwall came out of the challenges (with the ball). That fine percentage switch turned the game and the individuality we’ve got won the game for us.

“It was an important win for us and we have to be relatively happy with where we’re at (in the table) I think. We’re not happy with the first half but we’re happy with the result.

“Danny Batth needs a special mention. Against such a potent team with set plays and how many first contacts they win, it was amazing how dominant he was.

“I think about 63 per cent of Millwall’s goals come from set-plays and that shows you how important Danny was for us and how amazing a job he did for us.

“You have to stand up to the (physical) challenge and then do what you’re good at. We grew into the game.”

Millwall boss Gary Rowett also felt his side had been the better team before the interval and while he was disappointed with the way they were outplayed in the second half, he was not too downbeat.

Rowett said: “If you look at the first 45 minutes, I thought we were the better side.

“We were very good. Sunderland have the type of players where they can get in those little pockets, and they caused us problems for a 10-or-15-minute spell, but the best first-half chances by far fell to us.

“Tom Bradshaw heads it over the keeper and if he just gets it another yard or so towards the corner, I don’t think Danny Batth gets there.

“Zian (Flemming) has a chance just before half-time where he reads the goalkeeper’s intentions but just hits it a yard wide. George Honeyman also had an excellent chance that was blocked.

“If you look at the big moments, then as an away team I was quite encouraged by the first-half performance. But what you can’t do in this division is give away the first goal easily. That was the disappointment.

“We had a chance to clear the first goal but they ended up with a position where they had two against one in the box and then for the second goal Pritchard just wriggles past two of our players again.

“We have to get closer. The third goal can’t be described any other way than as an absolute joke from our perspective.”