TONY MOWBRAY has defended his decision not to play a recognised centre-forward in Sunderland’s 2-1 defeat at Stoke City yesterday afternoon.

Mason Burstow, Nazariy Rusyn and Luis Hemir were all named on the substitutes’ bench as the Black Cats were beaten at the bet365 Stadium.

All three strikers came onto the field in the final 25 minutes of the game, but by that stage, Sunderland were trailing 2-1 and were unable to claw their way back onto level terms.

Alex Pritchard spent most of the opening hour playing as Sunderland’s central striker, with Patrick Roberts occasionally replacing him as the leader of the line, but neither really threatened the Stoke goal.

Mowbray repeatedly bemoaned a lack of centre-forward options last season, but claims there were mitigating factors that explain his decision to go without any of his attacking summer signings at the weekend.

“Mason didn’t come back to training until Friday, and it was the same with Nazariy Rusyn, who had been away with Ukraine,” said the Black Cats boss. “Jewison Bennette didn’t actually get back until after our training session on Friday. He flew 11 hours from Costa Rica, you can’t play in those circumstances.

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“You have to train and prepare for the game, and we’d had Pritchard and Roberts working with us all week. Training was tough on Friday in the conditions with Storm Babet, so it was a very difficult preparation if I’m trying to defend the team a little bit.

“Of course, I know it was probably the same for Stoke City. We have to accept that defeat is part of the game and try to bounce back on Tuesday (against league leaders Leicester City).”

Sunderland conceded a goal in the opening seven minutes of both halves against the Potters, and Mowbray was critical of the way in which his players seemed to need a setback to spark them into life.

“We didn’t start either half well enough,” said the head coach, whose side have suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time since the opening two matches of the season. “It’s almost you need a slap before you react to the fight.

“We talked about trying to be ready for the physical confrontation, and we fell a little bit short in that aspect. We created enough chances not to lose the match, but we fell below par for the way we want to play and what we want to do.”