ROTHERHAM UNITED manager Paul Warne says Sunderland are the team to avoid in the League One play-offs.

Rotherham’s 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light last night means they will be guaranteed automatic promotion if they win their final game of the season at Gillingham at the weekend.

However, if they drop points at Priestfield Stadium, they will find themselves in the play-offs if third-placed MK Dons win at Plymouth Argyle.

In that scenario, Warne would be keen to avoid Sunderland, who head to Morecambe on Saturday knowing they need to win to guarantee a top-six finish.

“We knew when we came here that Sunderland and Wycombe are probably the two in-form teams at the moment,” said Warne, who saw his side pegged back in dramatic fashion last night when Millers centre-half Michael Ihiekwe powered a bullet header into his own goal.

“I obviously don’t want to drop into the play-offs, but if we did, I wouldn’t want to play Sunderland home and away.

“I know they made changes for this game, and respectfully, I think they made changes because they knew the energy and pace we had. So, to limit them to very few chances was good.

“But when you’ve got 35,000 people cheering you on, it makes a difference. I appreciate you might get the odd decision here or there, as I would want if I had 35,000 at my place.

“I thought we deserved to win the game, but I accept that I’m biased. I have the utmost respect for Alex and his team, and I thought they played really well against a really well good League One team.”