The interesting and revealing press conference that summed up where Sunderland stand right now

By the time Mowbray arrived for his post-match press conference it was clear that wasn't entirely the case.

Which is not to say that he wasn't bitterly frustrated, the head coach is by his own admission a man who struggles to live by his edict not to talk about referees, and on nights like these you can understand why. Ultimately, though, the sense you got from Mowbray was that even amidst the immediate disappointment he was seeing an altogether brighter bigger picture.

Perhaps a long chat in the Ewood Park corridors with Ben Brereton Díaz had helped to take the edge off his mood, too. For a head coach who prizes player development above just about anything else, maybe the best way to lose a game is when your former striker rifles one in the top corner from 25 yards. It was a brutal watch at the time, but perhaps the way the Chile international so relentlessly drove into dangerous areas through the latter stages of the game can offer some long-term encouragement. There was much criticism of the deal in the early years of his spell in the north west but Mowbray's faith and judgement is being vindicated in quite spectacular fashion.

Picking through the bones of the game, it was the strongest and clearest Mowbray has been in stressing his view that Sunderland are losing points because of their lack of a striker. Sunderland's approach play was again largely impressive, and from box-to-box there was nothing between this newly-promoted side and one that finished eighth last season.

Which you can view two ways, really. There is heart to be taken from Sunderland once again proving so emphatically that they belong at this level, and there is real frustration that not adding a third striker to their ranks has prevented them turning a very good start into an excellent one. Sunderland were vulnerable in some key areas after the last January window and got away with it, just about. This time fortune has not favoured them and there will rightly be an expectation that is addressed properly when January rolls around again.

For Mowbray, the return of Ellis Simms in around a week or so gives him a sense of light emerging at the end of the tunnel.

Nine games into his tenure his record reads: won three, drawn three, lost three. Given that Ross Stewart has featured in only one of those games (and was outstanding in it), it is a more than steady return. Which explains that while tucking into a bar of Dairy Milk in the Ewood Park media theatre, the message from the head coach was ultimately a very upbeat one.

Mowbray feels that his side are a) doing well for a newly-promoted team and b) capable of so much more when Stewart and Simms return.

"Hopefully by the time we play them again later this year we have some different threats in our team," he said.

With no strikers there is on Saturday another stern test against an impressive Burnley side - but Mowbray is giving the impression of a man who sees real potential ahead.