TONY Mowbray thought Sunderland would get the help they needed from elsewhere on the final day - but admitted he expected Middlesbrough to be the team doing the Black Cats a favour rather than another of his former sides.

Sunderland knew they needed to win at Preston to stand any chance of making the play-offs, but they also needed either Coventry to lose at Boro or Millwall to slip up against Blackburn Rovers.

With Blackburn's chances of making the top six extremely slim, Mowbray was looking at Boro as the more likely team to get the result Sunderland needed.

But Rovers turned out to be Sunderland's saviours as they came roaring back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 at The Den.

Mowbray said: “I have to admit I thought it would have worked the other way around. I thought Middlesbrough would find a way to beat Coventry at the Riverside because they’ve got so many goalscoring players in their team.

"But instead, it was Blackburn who got the result for us, a team I obviously know well because I was there for five years."

The vast majority of Blackburn's team are players who Mowbray managed at Ewood Park.

"I know those players and I loved those players," said Sunderland's head coach.

"I love Brereton Diaz, I love (Lewis) Travis, I love (Scott) Wharton. These are young lads that have come all the way through really.

"Brereton Diaz had such a tough time in that first year after spending £5-6m on him, but he became the player that we all knew he had inside him. Somebody told me he scored a couple the goals (against Millwall).

"It’s an amazing result for Blackburn, although obviously really disappointing for them that they didn’t get into the play-offs.

"They’re a really good football team, and they helped us and we’ve got the job done. When the ball stops rolling, then where everyone finishes is where everyone deserves to be.

"We’ve finished sixth after 46 games and it’s a fair result. You deserve to finish where you finish after so many games.”