TONY MOWBRAY admits he is “excited” at the prospect of what Sunderland’s young attackers could achieve in the Championship this season.

The Black Cats’ young guns ran riot at Reading last night, with the Black Cats’ 3-0 win securing their joint-biggest success of the campaign so far.

Patrick Roberts scored twice in the first half, with fellow attacking-midfielder Jack Clarke claiming a goal of his own after the interval. Elliot Embleton claimed two assists after coming off the bench to replace the injured Ellis Simms, with Dan Neil producing a virtuoso performance at the heart of midfield.

Mowbray accepts he will not always be able to play all of his attackers at the same time, but having spent less than a month in his current role after replacing Alex Neil, he is clearly enthused about the quality of the squad he has inherited at the Stadium of Light.

“It’s exciting,” said the Sunderland boss. “I’ve talked about soldiers and artists – while the artists score amazing goals, like they did (last night), the soldiers have to keep clean sheets and win their battles in midfield, and they did. The combination and the balance of the team was good.

“It’s great to have options off the bench, even though they’re untried and untested. This young kid (Jewison Bennette) has come from Costa Rica two weeks ago, hardly speaks a word of English, yet he can come on. I’ve watched him in training and he’s so fast and direct. He nearly scored (against Reading).

“They’re enjoying playing football. They’re all athletic, they can all run and compete, and their quality with the ball, you can see they can all pick the first pass, play around the corner and switch the play.

“They’re good footballers, and it’s good to work with good footballers because you don’t have to tell them every pass. They see the passes and get turned on their first touch, they let the ball run across their body and play around the corner. They’re good footballers. I know in my career, I’ve had to spend a lot of time repeating the things that a lot of these lads do naturally.”