TONY MOWBRAY admitted his tactical changes backfired as Sunderland suffered a 2-1 defeat at Rotherham United this evening.

As well as making three personnel changes at the New York Stadium, with Luke O’Nien, Dennis Cirkin and Alex Pritchard all coming into his starting side, Mowbray also tweaked his formation against the Millers.

Jack Clarke started as a central striker, supporting Joe Gelhardt, with Pritchard taking up a position on the left wing, but the ploy did not really work as Sunderland were outplayed in the first half.

Clarke moved back to the left flank after the interval, and the Black Cats improved markedly after Patrick Roberts left the bench and they to something much closer to the line-up that been playing so effectively in the last few weeks.

Mowbray said: “We’re left disappointed. I think you’ve got to give them some credit for the intensity they play at, but we knew that.

“I changed the shape today to try to play slightly differently against their pressure, but I think ultimately, as you saw, we’re better at doing what we normally do.

“I think when we made the changes and brought some more established players onto the pitch, we got better. Maybe because we were 2-0 down, we got better too, but we weren’t at the level we would normally play at, and that’s credit to them.”

Rotherham’s hassling and harrying appeared to unsettle Sunderland’s players – particularly in the opening hour – with Mowbray admitting his tactical tweaks were largely an attempt to counter the Millers’ strengths.

He said: “You roll it all up, and that’s what you get. I wouldn’t sit here and say it was one thing or the other – we just didn’t perform at the normal level.

“I think a lot of that is down to the intensity they play at. It’s difficult to play against. I’ve likened it to playing against Millwall, you know you are playing against a team who play against the ball very well.

“We changed formation to play, and there’s a logic why you change formation. It’s a team that press really high, so why would you play around your own box when they press so well? You don’t do it, you leave more targets forward.

“There’s a logic to why we changed formation, because of the way they play, but we still should have been better tonight.”