Alex Neil's celebration after Sunderland’s winner, Luke O'Nien's message to the referee plus Nathan Broadhead's frustration: Moments you may have missed against Gillingham

A goalless draw at home to a side fighting to avoid relegation would have seen the Black Cats drop to eighth in the League One table, missing the chance to overtake some of their play-off rivals.

Neil was well aware of the significance and swung forward as if he was heading the ball past Gillingham goalkeeper Aaron Chapman.

That job was left to Nathan Broadhead - who had come off the bench as part of a triple substitution in the second half - and the Everton loanee took his chance, sending Sunderland upto sixth in the table.

Neil swivelled round with his arm aloft before he was jumped on by members of his coaching staff, including Mike Dodds, Martin Canning and David Preece.

After 95 minutes of frustration, Sunderland had finally found a breakthrough. The relief inside the Stadium of Light was palpable.

Here are some of the moments you may have missed:

Nathan Broadhead’s celebration

Broadhead also let out his emotions after the last-gasp winner.

The 23-year-old striker was sidelined with a hamstring injury for over two months from December last year, and suffered a further setback after returning in the goalless draw at Charlton in March.

After Broadhead converted his chance here, he threw his shirt on the ground before running over to celebrate with the home fans.

When asked what he was thinking at that moment, the striker replied: “To let my frustration out.

“It’s been a long road to recovery so I took it out on the celebration.”

Luke O’Nien’s message to the referee

As Sunderland tried to break down a compact Gillingham defence in the first half, there was a moment when Luke O’Nien was left baffled as his side weren’t awarded a corner.

The ball appeared to come off the leg of Gills defender Conor Masterson, yet the linesman instead pointed for a goal kick.

Perhaps that had something to do with O’Nien’s message to the referee at half-time, which was caught by the club’s ‘Access All Areas’ video.

"Ref do you not like me?," said O’Nien jokingly as the players came out of the tunnel for the second half.

"Don’t make it personal Luke,” replied a voice off camera.

Sunderland’s change of shirt sponsor

The Sunderland team wore special shirts for the match against Gillingham, with a different design on the front.

It was announced earlier in the week the club’s official principal partner ‘Great Annual Savings Group’ had shown its support for the Foundation of Light, by giving its front of shirt sponsorship to support the charity’s Give a Quid campaign.

The Foundation aims to raise £30,000 to support critical community services to combat the impact of food, fuel and digital poverty.

Sunderland players have signed the special edition shirts, which will be auctioned to raise vital funds for the campaign.

HOW TO DONATE

To donate £1 text FOLQUID to 70085

To donate £5 text FOLFIVE to 70085

You can donate online here

A message from the Football Clubs Editor

Our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative Sunderland AFC coverage 365 days a year .

This depth of coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package here.

Your support is much appreciated. Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor