Ben Garner was frustrated Sunderland were not reduced to 10 men sooner in the 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
His Bristol Rovers side were ahead inside just three minutes as Luke Leahy slammed home a penalty, and Garner believes his opponents should have had a man sent off early in the second period.
Chris Maguire scored with eight minutes to go as the sides took a point each on the opening day of the League One season.
But Garner was left bemused by Anthony Backhouse’s decision not to brandish a second yellow card to defender Bailey Wright after he brought down Brandon Hanlan on 49 minutes to curtail a promising counter attack.
The Gas boss believes it changed the flow of the game as Sunderland applied the squeeze in the closing stages and Maguire struck a super equaliser in the 82nd minute.
“I think the turning point in the second half was the foul on Brandon Hanlan by Bailey Wright,” Garner said.
“The referee gets a yellow card out of his pocket and in his hands, and for whatever reason after chatting with Bailey Wright he puts it away and changes his mind.
“That would have been a big moment in the game if they go down to 10 and we get the momentum. As it was, the momentum swung their way and they started playing really well.
“There were a couple of changes we had to make and we lost our flow in the game, but we ground it out. We are a young team and we showed our character today.”
Sunderland were eventually reduced to 10 men in added time as George Dobson caught Jayden Mitchell-Lawson with an ugly challenge.
Garner was delighted with his players resolve to defend so well after a pair of shaky performances in cup competition to kick off the season.
“We worked hard in the week on our defensive shape,” Garner said.
“I think when you look at the players they’re bringing off the bench like Lynden Gooch and Danny Graham, they’re top players, and I thought Maguire for them was outstanding with the pockets he gets into and the problems he causes.
“We worked hard on that and pleased to get out with a point. On another day it might have been three points.
“Defensively, if we’re as solid as that in games this season we’re going to pick up a lot of points away from home.
“Sunderland were very good today. They’re an outstanding team in this division and they showed their quality.
“We had to really grind in that second half, with three enforced changes and we had to move things around, so a really pleasing point at certainly one of the most difficult places to go to in League One.”
