Mogga was concerned about a fixture pile-up and Barry Robson had binned his man of the match bubbly.
The fans were feeling no such frustration. Instead, sheer pride.
Barry Robson was understandably annoyed. The all-action Scot had fired Boro into an early lead at the Stadium of Light in an absorbing FA Cup fourth round clash on this day in 2012.
His 16th minute strike sent the 3,000 travelling fans into raptures.
But it was the goalscorer’s miss-hit back-pass which allowed the home side to level on the hour mark through Fraizer Campbell.
Mowbray had to do without a string of first team regulars including Julio Arca, Nicky Bailey and Jason Steele.
But a neutral would have found it difficult to pick out which of the two sides belonged in the Premier League.
Boro were certainly not daunted by their top-tier opposition,
And Mogga’s brave choice to field a three-pronged attack of Scott McDonald, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Marvin Emnes caused the hosts problems.
They were impressive but Robson was the pick of the bunch, not that he was in the mood for plaudits after the game.
“The mistake I made cost us the game,” said the fiery Scot.
“Had I not done that we would probably have gone through to the next round.
“But that’s football for you. Far better players than me have made mistakes.”
Boro now faced the prospect of a replay with their neighbours at the Riverside the following week, another fixture in an already congested schedule.
Six games in 18 days would prove to be a real test, although Boro and Sunderland would both go at it again in the knowledge that it was a home tie with Arsenal awaiting them in the next round.
“The bottom line is we would prefer to have a replay than be out of the cup,” was Mogga’s assessment.
“The replay should be a fantastic occasion and if we can get through that game we’ll play Arsenal which will be another huge spectacle.
“I hope the fans can get along next week and get behind us. Hopefully it will catch the imagination of the town.”
It did with almost 27,000 turning out for the replay, a tie settled by Stéphane Sessègnon’s extra-time winner.
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