It was a long way to go for no reward but I had never really expected Bristol Rovers to get much from this game.
Perhaps it would have been better to play the Black Cats earlier in the season before they got their act together because they are now on a roll and must be contenders for an automatic promotion spot.
Rovers had done well to hang on in there for 60 minutes and the Abu Ogogo dismissal was certainly a big nail in the coffin for our boys.
At first I didn’t think there was a lot in the midfield challenge as Ogogo did “make contact” as they say these days but Chris Maguire did make the most of it and went down as if he had been hit by Tyson Fury although he was soon on his feet once the red card appeared.
Quite often over the years when the visitors have gone down to 10 men at the Memorial Stadium it has not made a lot of difference, in fact sometimes it has galvanised them. But that was never going to happen here as Rovers were fighting to hang on to a point.
It had been good to see Ben Garner start with both Jayden Mitchell-Lawson and Josh Ginnelly in a positive move for such a tough away game and it was significant that the home fans were showing their frustration by booing at the half-time whistle.
While it is easy to say the sending off changed the game who knows what could have happened if that had not occurred. Our luck was really out for the second goal as Alfie Kilgour took a knock to the head in a clash with Tony Craig and they both collapsed without the referee stopping the game.
How the ref could say it wasn’t a head injury is a mystery.
It was a tough time at 3-0 down for young Cian Harries to get his debut but at least Garner wasn’t afraid to throw him in as he builds for the future.
I would like to see him make more changes as he plans for next season. After all I cannot see us going down (thank goodness it is only three for the drop this season) and now is the time to experiment and for the manager to see exactly who he wants to keep while it is also a big learning curve for him in his first job in charge.
No one likes to keep losing but thankfully Garner has some breathing space which other managers don’t get as they usually join a side which has been struggling. Let’s hope he can make the most of it.
