Tony Mowbray admits his team selection 'didn't help' following Sunderland defeat

Head coach holds hands up after 1-0 defeat to Cardiff at Stadium of Light.

Tony Mowbray has admitted his team selection probably cost Sunderland as they fell to a poor 1-0 home defeat to Cardiff.

Sunderland beat Huddersfield in midweek, although Mowbray described that one as the worst performance from the Black Cats since he took charge in September.

He, therefore, changed his side around for the visit of the Bluebirds, with experienced duo Alex Pritchard and Corry Evans starting on the bench while youngsters Abdoullah Ba and Dan Neil were paired together in midfield.

It didn’t work, though, and Sunderland put in a wretched first half performance that didn’t improve until the introduction of Evans and Pritchard following the only goal of the game.

"We made a few changes to try and freshen it up and ultimately I don't think it helped the team," Mowbray admitted.

"We're all disappointed because we were trying to get back-to-back wins - not a great performance, but a good win away from home - and we tried to follow that up. You'd have to say that Cardiff played well today and congratulate them, while we lacked the intensity to be able to stop that.

"Their passing and movement in the first half was good and it gave us problems. If you look at the first 20 minutes, they had control but we broke away and had some really good chances - it felt as though after 20 minutes it could be 2-2!

"We have to keep persevering. Here we are with some really talented young footballers we are trying to integrate into our squad, but I think it showed when we got some more experienced players on, we had more control but we couldn't find a way to get the goal we needed."