Rotherham 2-1 Sunderland – Match Report & Player Ratings

Sunderland suffered their first defeat in 6 games at The New York Stadium after a poor first-half performance costs the Black Cats.

Sunderland have dropped out of the play-off places and into 8th after they were unable to turn around a two-goal deficit.

Rotherham took an early lead after 19 minutes thanks to a brilliant strike from Oliver Rathbone from around 20-yards out.

Alex Pritchard almost scored an instant equaliser, but his curling effort was brilliantly saved by Viktor Johansson.

Sunderland started the second-half strong, and Gelhardt had a goal disallowed for offside just 9 minutes into the half.

However, 2 minutes later, Rotherham took a 2 goal lead, after Dan Neil slipped and lost the ball.

Shane Ferguson picked up the ball and finished smartly from just outside the box.

5 minutes later, Sunderland responded and got their goal back.

O’Nien’s fabulous cross was met brilliantly by Joe Gelhardt, who headed home his first goal for the club.

Gelhardt almost got his second of the game after a scramble in the box following a corner in the final few moments fell to him and his shot was saved well by the Rotherham ‘keeper.

Sunderland had a second goal disallowed right at the death, Aji Alese prodded home a loose ball, but their ‘keeper collided with O’Nien, and the referee ruled it as a foul.

Player Ratings

Anthony Patterson – 6

He still needs help with his kicking, but there wasn’t much he could do with either goal.

Luke O’Nien – 6

Caught out of position for their second goal, but gkt himself a brilliant assist.

Dan Ballard – 6

Not his usual self today, seemed to panic at times on the ball.

Danny Batth – 6

Took off after an hour, similar to Ballard with some sloppy passes.

Dennis Cirkin – 6

Struggled at times against Ogbene, wasn’t his best showing.

Dan Neil – 6

Some nice touches and passes at times, but he was nowhere near at his best, seemed a little off the pace.

Edouard Michut – 6

Similar to Dan Neil.

Amad Diallo – 5

He really struggled to make an impact without Roberts and Hume in the team.

Jack Clarke – 6

A couple half chances, but overall he was quite quiet.

Alex Pritchard – 6

Looked dangerous at times, our most influential player in a poor first half showing.

Joe Gelhardt – 7

Some good link up play at times, and he was unlucky to only get 1 goal.

SUBS

Trai Hume – 6

Spent a lot of his time up the pitch as we chased an equaliser, caused some problems and linked up well with Roberts.

Patrick Roberts – 7

Added energy and flair to our attack, everything began to come through him.

Aji Alese – 6

Unlucky not to get an equaliser at the end, his pace and energy caused Rotherham a few problems.

Jewison Bennette – 6

Only played 10 minutes, didn’t have chance to make much of a difference.

Abdoullah Ba – 6

Similar to Bennette.

MoTM – Patrick Roberts