Mowbray backs under pressure Donk

Tony Mowbray has told young Dutchman Ryan Donk to stay strong after conceding consecutive penalties against Blackburn and Newcastle. The on loan centre-half was harshly punished for a shirt pulling incident on Jason Roberts just four-days after conceding a spot-kick for a foul on Damien Duff.

Despite his own misfortune and downturn in form Mowbray has urged the 22-year-old to stay mentally strong for the sake of his team-mates on the horizon of matches against Liverpool and Chelsea.

"It's a tough little period for Ryan and the last thing he needed was what happened on Saturday," Mowbray admitted.

"He's got to get his head down and work hard.

"He's a professional footballer, so there's nowhere for him to hide.

"He has to get on with it and keep going.

"It's disappointing and frustrating for him to give away two penalties in two games.

"But he has to be ready for the next game."

Donk was substituted at half-time against Blackburn however Mowbray has stated his faith in the defender claiming the change was tactical and not related to his first-half performance.

"I made the change at half-time not because of anything Ryan had done but because of the way the referee was officiating the game," he added.

"He had been booked and the official was of a certain mindset.

"I got the impression that just about anything could happen and I didn't want to give him an opportunity to send Ryan off.

"Ryan's our best option at this moment and he's in training this week so we'll see how it mentally affects him.

"Hopefully he will react in a positive way and be ready to give us a big performance on Saturday."