HAVING outlined his desire to "prove a point" to Blackburn Rovers when he joined Sunderland in the summer, there's natural disappointment for Bradley Dack to be missing out on a return to Ewood Park tonight.

But while Tony Mowbray admits the Black Cats will miss the attacking midfielder, the Sunderland head coach says Dack's hamstring injury is "not a major concern", stressing that he didn't expect the 29-year-old to play every game this season having joined on the back of a couple of serious knee injuries in recent season.

"There was no intention of bringing Bradley in on the back of two cruciates and expecting him to play 40-odd games," said Mowbray.

"If we can get 25 games out of Bradley Dack this year we'll be more than happy."

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The hamstring injury that has ruled Dack out of tonight's game is a "tweak" rather than a serious problem. He could have probably played the game, said Mowbray, but Sunderland would rather give the playmaker a couple of weeks of recovery and rehab rather than risk aggravating the issue.

Mowbray said: "He's played three consecutive games. For him to miss a couple of games then bring him back, it's fine. And Bradley is OK with that.

"He's a miss to us because he's a midfield player who can score goals, as he did against Southampton. But it's not a major concern at the moment.

"He would have been pretty desperate to play at Blackburn I'm sure. But he's not going to play. He'll be disappointed, but he's going to travel with the team. Bradley is here to help some of the young players understand the game better, to bring his quality to help the dressing room and that's the bigger picture.

"For him, he would have liked to play against the team he played for for five years, but it's not going to be and that's OK because we'll have plenty of opportunities to see Bradley doing what he does throughout the rest of the season."

While Sunderland prioritise the capture of talented young players with big potential in the transfer window, Mowbray stressed the importance of ensuring there was enough experience in his dressing room in the summer. And he jumped at the chance to sign Dack, a player he knows well from his time in charge of Blackburn.

"He's a very good player, a very talented boy, he's a good human being who knows what's right and wrong," said Mowbray.

"He's an experienced pro who can help players. One of the main reasons to bring him in, if we're going to sprinkle our young squad with experienced players, Bradley Dack is in my eyes a good role model who has a pretty high profile but when you work with him day in, day out you know he's a good kid with the right morals.

"I had no issues putting Bradley in our group because I know he's a good guy who'll help others. If he can help the young midfielders or strikers improve and get better, then everyone benefits.

"Bradley just wants to come and play football. He hasn't got a bad injury. We could probably play him but I think it would just heighten the issue and we're trying to put it to bed."