Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray was not bothered about Reading's tactics in the 1-0 defeat on Saturday, however has urged timekeeping to be looked at.

Royals boss Paul Ince was questioned on his 'time wasting' and slowing the ball down by journalists at the Stadium of Light, leading to an awkward exchange in the North-East.

Stating that his plan was to "quieten the fans", something he was pleased with in the first half, it proved controversial post-match.

Having his say on the tactics, former Blackburn Rovers and Celtic boss Mowbray was sympathetic to the set-up, but believed that time-keeping is proving an issue.

"In our dressing room, we talk about playing fast, pressing, winning tackles and getting the crowd involved. So why wouldn't they do the opposite," he said. "There's nothing in the rules that says you can't.

"But I genuinely feel that the timing aspect of it needs taking out of the officials hands. I don't know how you'd do it because it would be a pretty strange job. At some stage it needs to be better than a fourth official guessing how long the substitutes took and how many injuries there were."

Full of admiration for Ince, Mowbray insists that the former England and Manchester United captain is 'a winner.'

"There's no rules to say you have to play a certain way," he said.

"They probably weren't happy with the way we were eulogised for one of the goals we scored down there and they probably wanted to put the record straight. Paul is a winner and he has that fire in his belly - I knew his team were going to come and be really tough to break down, be physical and on the front foot."