TOP CAT TONY HAS 'EM PURRING

TONY MOWBRAY makes it sound simple the way he has led Sunderland to being just three games from the Premier League.

But it has been far from that. Obstacle after obstacle, blow after blow, have been overcome.

He is guiding a team of kids and a defence crippled by injuries, including now having no fit centre-halves for the two-legged semi-final against Luton Town.

Mowbray lost star striker Ross Stewart to injury twice and Ellis Simms was recalled by Everton, leaving no centreforward to lead the line or target man to hit in the box, for months. Skipper Corry Evans suffered a long-term knee injury in January.

There was a nine-game winless run up to April and a slump to 12th.

Yet, somehow, a team packed full of ball-playing talent most standing 5ft 8in tall on their tiptoes - have passed and moved, and jinked their way to the Championship play-offs.

How? "There's a lack of fear in the team. There are a lot of young players who just want to play," said Mowbray.