Mowbray talks up 'magic' O'Neill
February 08, 2012 12:47:02 UK
Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray accepts it will be difficult to beat Sunderland in their FA Cup fourth round replay, with the Black Cats under the spell of 'magic' Martin O'Neill.
The two sides meet at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday evening, with the winners securing a home tie with Arsenal in round five.
Martin has come in and found some magic dust from somewhere.
Tony Mowbray
Boro are 3.75 to make home advantage count and go through, but Mowbray is wary of the threat posed by the visitors and their inspirational new manager.
He told reporters: "Everybody in football looks at Martin and thinks 'what is the ingredient?'.
"Martin has come in and found some magic dust from somewhere to sprinkle over the same group of players and get results you can only dream of in all different types of ways.
"Martin seems to have the ingredient where he can find a way of winning games, which is a great quality for any manager to have - to be able to influence a football match."
O'Neill, whose side are 2.00 to win at Boro and 1213.00 to go on and win the FA Cup, has a number of injury problems to contend with, with Wes Brown, David Vaughan, Lee Cattermole, Matthew Kilgallon, Titus Bramble and Nicklas Bendtner all sidelined.
Recent loan signings Wayne Bridge and Sotirios Kyrgiakos are ineligible as they joined after the first meeting of the two sides ended 1-1 at the Stadium of Light.
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