Sunderland’s ‘naivety’ in the final minutes cost them two points against Gillingham, according to Lee Johnson.
The Black Cats twice let leads slip against the Gills at the Stadium of Light, but it was the last-minute equaliser that proved costly.
Aiden McGeady had given Sunderland an early lead before Alex MacDonald levelled, but Grant Leadbitter followed up to score at the second attempt after his penalty had been saved just before half-time.
Gillingham put Sunderland under heavy pressure and it paid off in the 90 th minute when Jordan Graham earned his side a point.
“I’m frustrated because it was naivety in the final five or six minutes,” said Johnson. “We have generally been good at dealing with that [long balls into the penalty area].
“We obviously didn’t have Bailey [Wright], so you lose that organiser and talker in there, they had a line of five and we had a line of four for the goal – work that out.
“That is the boys needing to organise it in that situation.”
Gillingham took any opportunity to put the ball into the box from free-kicks and throw-ins, and Johnson said his side made it too easy for them.
He said: “We gave away too many free-kicks. You know it’s coming in [to the box] so why bother? You might as well force them into showing their quality rather than allowing them to lump a long high ball directly down our throat.
“The disappointing thing is we hadn’t dealt it – they had hit the post from a long throw, so we had had the warning.
“That’s when you need communicators and you need characters.
“We expect these players to do that, as a club we have to deal with moments in the game better than we did today.
“We gave away too many fouls, played into the opposition hands.”
Johnson was also unhappy with the quality that Sunderland produced at the other end of the pitch.
He said: “If you don’t get the quality into the box at the other end, and it wasn’t just the wingers, then that is what can happen [you drop points].
“There were too many times we got to the elbow of the box and didn’t produce the quality.
“We have to finish teams off.
“Styles don’t bother me, we have to deal with it.
“We were unfortunate we didn’t finish that today.”
