Bristol City boss blames himself and referee as Sunderland come back from 3-0 down

Lee Johnson blamed himself for Bristol City's second half collapse against Sunderland, saying he should have done more tactically to kill the game off.
Lee Johnson and Chris Coleman watch the drama unfold at Ashton Gate.Lee Johnson and Chris Coleman watch the drama unfold at Ashton Gate.
Lee Johnson and Chris Coleman watch the drama unfold at Ashton Gate.

The Robins boss, who also had strong words for referee James Linington, saw his side lose a commanding 3-0 half-time lead to struggling Sunderland.

When asked what went wrong, he said: "Probably my bad tactics. Probably should have put another midfielder on to shore it up, but saying that we were playing a side right down there and low in confidence and we should have seen the game out.

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"I should have killed the game off tactically, could have done that by putting on another midfielder: 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 but I’m disappointed that we didn’t see it out."

Johnson was also angry with the referee, with Bristol City adamant they should have had a penalty when Jamie Paterson broke into the box and looked to have his shirt pulled.

"The referee was a joke, again. We should have had a penalty again. It was ridiculous. You saw the shirt come back a full yard," he said.