How did the players fare in Sunderland’s 2-1 defeat at Rotherham?


ROTHERHAM (4-3-3):

Johansson 7; Peltier 7 (Odoffin 79), Hall 6 (Harding 45, 6), Humphreys 7, Hjelde 6; Coventry 6, RATHBONE 8 (Washington 78), Ferguson 7 (Lindsay 64, 5); Ogbene 7, Hugill 6 (Kelly 79), Fosu 7.

Subs (not used): Vickers (gk), Bramall.


SUNDERLAND (4-4-2):

6 Patterson: Made a couple of routine saves, but his distribution wasn’t as composed as it has been in recent matches

7 O’Nien: Was a useful attacking outlet restored to full-back, and delivered an excellent pinpoint cross for Gelhardt’s goal

6 Batth: Backed off Rathbone as the Rotherham midfielder opened the scoring, but battled away gamely against Hugill

6 Ballard: Won most of the aerial balls that were played in his direction, but didn’t always look comfortable when the ball was played on the ground

5 Cirkin: Had a couple of shaky moments and defensively and wasn’t really able to offer much going forward

6 Amad: Tried to get Sunderland on the front foot in the second half, but a couple of speculative strikes failed to find the target

5 Neil: Lost possession on a number of occasions in the first half in particular as Rotherham swarmed over him in midfield

5 Michut: Seemed to lose his composure amid the hurly-burly of Rotherham’s approach – not one of his better nights

6 Pritchard: Started off fairly brightly, but was tiring by the time he was taken off in the closing stages

6 Clarke: Started the game playing pretty much as a central striker, but was more effective when switched back to the left in the second half

7 GELHARDT: Came into his own in the second half, scoring his first Sunderland goal and coming very close to claiming an equaliser


Subs:

5 Roberts (for Michut, 62): Wasn’t really able to fashion an opportunity in the final third late on

5 Hume (for Batth, 62): Wasn’t too much of a factor in the closing stages of the game

5 Alese (for Cirkin, 62): Got into a great position on the left of the box, but his shot was blocked

Bennette (for Clarke, 84)

Ba (for Pritchard, 84)

(not used): Bass (gk), Ekwah.


Man Of The Match: OLLIE RATHBONE – The Rotherham skipper opened the scoring with a great strike and never allowed Sunderland’s playmakers to settle in midfield.