THERE must be something about a trip to Rotherham that doesn’t quite agree with Sunderland.

This wasn’t quite the 5-1 annihilation that helped hasten the departure of Lee Johnson last season, but for the second campaign in a row, the Black Cats were knocked off their stride in the New York Stadium. Playing on Pancake Day, Tony Mowbray’s side fell flat.

A spirited showing in the final half-hour couldn’t quite claw back the ground that had been conceded up to that point, with Rotherham’s two goals before the hour mark ultimately proving sufficient.

Joe Gelhardt’s first goal in a Sunderland shirt gave the visitors hope – the striker also had a close-range effort ruled out for offside – but in truth, this was a night when the Black Cats’ sparkling attacking talents were blunted by obdurate and committed opponents.

There have been plenty of games this season in which Sunderland’s free-flowing football has carved the opposition apart, but this was an evening more in keeping with last season’s slog through League One. Time on the ball was limited, tackles were flying in left, right and centre, and a partisan home crowd, crammed close to the action, were on the referee’s back from first minute to last. For one night only, it felt as though promotion had never happened.

Sunderland’s challenge was to rise above the general scrappiness and ensure their superior footballing talents made the difference. By the closing stages, they were just about clicking into gear, but long-range strikes from Ollie Rathbone and Shane Ferguson had handed Rotherham an advantage they were able to maintain. As a result, the Black Cats missed out on the chance to climb into the top four.

Rotherham’s collective resilience was the key to their success, with their opponents struggling to get their passing game going for much of the night despite the best efforts of the recalled Alex Pritchard.

Pritchard was constantly looking to slip balls beyond the Rotherham defence, and one particularly inviting slide-rule pass sent Amad Diallo scampering into the box early on, only for the Manchester United loanee’s attempted cut-back for Gelhardt to be intercepted.

Sunderland’s attempts to construct intricate passing moves stood in marked contrast to Rotherham’s more rudimentary tactical approach, which tended to consist of long balls being pumped in the general direction of Teessider Jordan Hugill, but while Danny Batth and Dan Ballard dealt with the aerial bombardment reasonably well, they were found wanting when their opponents kept the ball on the ground to open the scoring in the 19th minute.

There initially appeared to be little danger when Rathbone picked up the ball in the middle of the Sunderland half, but with the Black Cats defence standing off him, the Millers skipper advanced towards the edge of the 18-yard box before drilling an excellent low strike into the bottom right-hand corner.

Sunderland’s response was immediate, but narrowly failed to result in an equaliser. First, Pritchard cut infield to the left-hand corner of the area and curled in a fine effort that was tipped over the crossbar by Rotherham goalkeeper Viktor Johansson, then, from the resultant corner, Ballard powered a header narrowly wide of the post.

The visitors looked threatening when they were able to spend time on the ball, but there was a raggedness to much of their play that has not really been apparent in recent weeks. Edouard Michut has adapted to English football impressively since moving from Paris St Germain, but this was an evening when he appeared to be rushed off his feet. For much of the night, his central-midfield partner, Dan Neil, looked equally as harassed.

The one player in Sunderland’s blue away kit who appeared to have time on the ball was Amad, but while his eagerness to get on the ball in order to try to prompt a comeback was commendable, for once, his long-range efforts flew over the crossbar rather than finding the target.

At least the Black Cats were increasingly dominant in terms of possession at the start of the second half, although while they had the ball in the net nine minutes after the restart, the assistant’s flag came to Rotherham’s rescue.

Gelhardt thought he had claimed his first Sunderland goal when he slid in to convert a cross from Neil that took a deflection off Luke O’Nien, but the Leeds loanee had strayed beyond the final defender and was ruled offside.

He would not have to wait too much longer to break his duck, but by the time he eventually scored in the 61st minute, Sunderland were two goals behind.

Neil’s inability to hold on to possession was the key to Rotherham’s second goal, with Tariqe Fosu stealing the ball off the Black Cats midfielder before playing a square pass to Ferguson. The former Newcastle full-back steadied himself close to the corner of the area, before drilling a fine low strike across Anthony Patterson and into the far corner.

Sunderland needed an immediate response, and it arrived within five minutes as Gelhardt found the net again with a strike that counted.

O’Nien hung up an inviting cross from the right, and having powered his way to the edge of the six-yard box, Gelhardt was able to thump a close-range header past Johansson.

Rotherham almost added a third goal with seven minutes remaining, but substitute Conor Washington’s low drive thudded off the base of the post.