TONY MOWBRAY has expressed his pride at the achievements of his Sunderland team – and claimed they ‘punched above their weight’ this season.

The Black Cats’ campaign came to an end at Kenilworth Road last night as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Luton Town in the second leg of their play-off semi-final.

Luton’s 3-2 aggregate win means they head to Wembley a week on Saturday to face either Middlesbrough or Coventry City, while Sunderland’s injury-ravaged side must lick their wounds and reflect on what might have been.

“We’re all disappointed,” said Mowbray, after first-half goals from Gabe Osho and Tom Lockyer settled things last night. “We knew what was coming.

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“It was a physical confrontation, really. They were very direct. We knew that was happening, and they scored from set-plays. There was always the potential for that, it happened on Saturday.

“It was frustrating we couldn’t score. We feel as though we’re always going to score a goal, even without our main striker, so we’re frustrated. But I’m very proud of the team, very proud of the supporters and very proud of the city of Sunderland. We’ll get stronger and we’ll be back next season.”

Given they were only promoted from League One via the play-offs last season, Sunderland’s main aim at the start of the campaign was to successfully consolidate their position in the Championship and avoid a relegation battle.

They achieved so much more than that, finishing in sixth position and making the play-offs despite suffering a raft of injuries that deprived them of their leading goalscorer, captain and three main centre-halves for much of the second half of the season.

“First and foremost, we have to talk about the team, and how proud I am of these young lads who week in, week out, have given everything they’ve got,” said Mowbray. “We’ve got some pretty good footballers, and we’ve won plenty of games this year.

“I do think the league will be stronger next season. Never mind the teams coming down from the Premier League, the teams coming up from League One are strong, with big crowds.

“We have to keep building and growing, and we have to get better and find a way to keep our players more available to play the football matches for us.”