TONY MOWBRAY admits his fringe players “failed to grasp the nettle” as they crashed to a penalty shootout defeat to Crewe Alexandra in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

Mowbray made ten changes to his starting line-up at the Stadium of Light, but after drawing 1-1 in 90 minutes, the Black Cats lost to their League Two opponents on spot-kicks.

A host of Sunderland players underperformed in the first half in particular, with things only really improving when Mowbary turned to his more senior performers in the second half.

The Sunderland boss said: “I've just said to them, they have to judge their performance levels and who they were playing against.

“I think in the first half, we weren't brave enough. When you get opportunity in life, you have to grab it with both hands and grasp the nettle.

“The messages are there every day - look forward, run forward, pass forward. We kept going sideways and around and around and around, we didn't cut through a team playing five at the back. We just didn't have the quality to punch the ball through and hurt them in the box.

“In the second half, we addressed that a little bit, and created a few more opportunities. Ultimately, we're disappointed, we played against a League Two side who played with organisation and commitment. But we should have had more to win that game. We can't change the result now.”

One of the few positives to emerge was the second-half performance of Bradley Dack, who impressed as he made his Sunderland debut following his summer move from Blackburn Rovers.

Mowbray said: “He (Dack) looks forward and he plays forward passes, he's trying to create and that's what I'm saying to the young players - you have to that bravery and look beyond the simple, ten-yard pass. The best players play forward and Dack came on and started doing that.

“His combinations with (Alex) Pritchard were good, and then (Jack) Clarke came on and eliminated players. I would have put Patrick (Roberts) on as well, but he was feeling tight so it wasn't worth the risk.

“I don't like losing so I felt I had to change it. I felt I needed to put those players on the pitch, and I felt the goals were coming towards the end. It wasn't to be, and we still didn't have enough end product really to warrant us scoring two, three, four goals.

“We have to be better and more creative. I feel the core of the team is there. We can work it around the pitch, work it out to Roberts and Clarke. We just need people who arrive in the box to score goals, getting Bradley up to speed is a positive for that.”