TONY Mowbray admits Sunderland are behind Middlesbrough on the "journey" to becoming a Premier League club - but recent conversations with rivals managers have backed up his belief that the Black Cats are good enough to go up this season.

"Proud" Mowbray says opposition bosses have been purring about his Sunderland side and he believes on their day the Black Cats are good enough to beat anyone in the Championship.

That will be put to the test on Sunday as Sunderland host in-form Middlesbrough, who have won seven of their last eight games to soar into promotion contention.

Mowbray lives on Teesside and has been constantly reminded of the importance of tomorrow's game by Boro fans in recent days. But despite his Boro links, the Sunderland boss says: “I have no problem plotting my old club’s downfall. Boro won’t succeed or fail on one game against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light."

For all Boro have been attracting plenty of praise for their recent form, Mowbray opened up on some complimentary conversations about his side.

He said: “I think we have some wonderfully talented footballers at this club. A few managers in recent weeks have said to me we are the best team they have played this season. That makes me very proud.

"I think about what they said because we have played West Brom and Burnley who were pretty good, so that says something. They have no reason to say that. It was probably after one of those days when Roberts, Diallo or Clarke did their stuff . We have good footballers who can damage teams in this league, We need them to turn up most weeks and we need solidity at the back. But I believe we can compete against every team in this league.

"Against Burnley for 45 minutes, we looked like the team who could fly away with this league. I do not know what their budget is but I would guess it is a lot more than us."

Mowbray often talks about the importance of patience in building a team ready to compete in the Championship and says Boro are ahead of the Black Cats in that process, little surprise given the fact this is the Teessiders' sixth successive season in the division.

He said: “They took Darragh Lenihan, my Blackburn captain, on a free transfer. I know what his salary was, so that gives me a feeling of where both clubs are. And we are still on a journey to get to where Boro are today and that is not a negative for us.

"The reality is when you come out of League One, you have to grow the club, it is really difficult to skip a stage of the journey.

 “We are trying to grow this football club. We hope to announce some young exciting signings in next few weeks to keep the club developing. We are not thinking ‘oh we will sign this one and that one and try and make the top six'. We are trying to grow the club incrementally so that we get stronger and stronger. If I am sitting here in 18 months, we should potentially be talking about a club that can compete right at the top of the table.

"At the moment, let’s just enjoy the games, enjoy the victories and the great goals we have scored. It is about giving this team the belief to express their talent. We have Diallo, Roberts, Clarke and Stewart, some amazing young footballers who we should get on the ball and let them do what they do best.”

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Tomorrow's game will be very different to the meeting at the Riverside in September. That was only Mowbray's second game in charge, while Boro were managed by Chris Wilder, who has since been replaced by Carrick.

Mowbray said: “Michael has not changed too much from Chris and yet is getting a positive reaction from the players and has found a slightly different way of playing. Boro have good players and that is why it is a really good challenge for us.

“These are the games of football you want to play in: big crowd, local pride at stake, two teams doing relatively well in the league. They are exciting games.

 “I live on Teesside and every time I go to the garage or pop to the shops, everyone talks about it. They’re all very nice but just don’t want us to get a result on the day. I think it will be a really good game. Watching Boro games in recent weeks, Michael has brought a confidence and belief into the team.

 “They will come here full of confidence but I think we are in a good place. Before the sending off last week, we played some really good stuff and were on top. We have some very good players ourselves.

“They are on an upward trajectory. Michael has obviously picked up a lot having spent a lot of his career under the greatest coach of them all. When I speak to him, he is very calm, knows what he wants to do and how he wants his team to play. He brings a lot of emotional intelligence to the job.

 “I wish him well but hope we can beat them and finish above them and compete all season with them. Sometimes you meet people who are just genuinely good guys and I want that club to do well because it is where I grew up but not at the expense of this club which is where I work now every day."