Sunderland boss delivers view on Championship play-off race

The 1-0 win over Cardiff City leaves the Black Cats four points and four places off the top six with five to play, and with back-to-back home games to come.

Sunderland's home form has been mixed across the campaign, and particularly since the turn of the year when the side have regularly operated without a recognised number nine.

Mowbray feels a top-six place remains unlikely but knows that there is undoubtedly an opportunity over the next week.

"There seems to be many too teams between us and the top six, though I haven't seen the results from this afternoon yet," Mowbray said.

"It just feels as if there are too many big teams, will they all feel the pressure and fall away? I'm not too sure, but I haven't seen their fixtures. Our fixtures, at least on paper, it looks like we have some opportunities. If we get the points from the next two, you probably won't be far off.

"We've struggled a bit at home, in terms of getting over the line and winning matches. It's difficult when teams come and make life difficult for us, slowing the game down and then as we saw the other night, if you play too many forwards you leave yourselves vulnerable.

"You've seen the last two away games that we are more than capable of getting clean sheets, it's just about getting the balance between how many attackers and how many defenders you have, and not leaving yourself vulnerable and potentially having to chase the game.

"If we win the next couple, it'll be very interesting to see where it would leave us in the table. It would be exciting to get to the last two or three still with a chance of creeping in, but let's see how we go."

After the games against Birmingham and Huddersfield, Sunderland face West Brom, Watford and Preston North End to conclude the season.