TONY MOWBRAY admitted his Sunderland side “fell short” as they were pegged back to a 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town that has dented their hopes of making the Sky Bet Championship play-offs.

The Black Cats looked to be heading into the top six when Joe Gelhardt fired them into the lead shortly before the interval at the Stadium of Light.

But Josh Koroma equalised for Huddersfield shortly before the hour mark, and it was the visitors who looked the likelier winners as they spent most of the final half-hour camped in the Sunderland half.

Mowbray said: “We didn't get to the levels that we needed to win the game. They picked a really athletic team that looked as if they were set up to break on us in the spaces like some teams have done, knowing that we couldn't really run in behind.

“We had to try and play through knowing that we had to try and play through them, knowing that we would be in trouble if we turned the ball over.

“So, I thought it was a bit scrappy, we didn't have enough men in forward areas because we were mindful of that threat if we lost it.

“We're frustrated with the goal we lost, he (Koroma) carries the ball too far and we've got to tackle him.

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“I've just aired my frustration with the team because if we're going to be a team that challenges then you have to bring it every night, and we fell a bit short of that.”

Mowbray picked an extremely attacking starting side, but while the result has taken Sunderland to within a point of the play-off positions, they have now played at least a game more than almost all of the sides around them in the table.

Mowbray said: “If we hadn't played enough attacking players and drew, I'd have been beating myself up.

“We felt it was the right decision to try and have five attacking threats, I felt we just fell a little bit short of the crispness that we normally play with. We didn't quite click.”