Gary Rowell: I want to see passion, emotion and even the odd flare-up - Sunderland players need to up their game

A late point is better than nothing but it didn’t halt the downward trajectory Sunderland have been on for weeks now and as each game without a win clicks by the pressure will only increase.

It is so visible how negatively all this is affecting the players, who look like they are carrying the problems of the world on their shoulders, when they should be having the time of their lives - if they could just string a few wins together.

No one smiles when something good happens, very few clinch their fist when the tempo needs to rise; the crowd will respond to the players showing their emotions, we need to see passion, get the adrenaline pumping, I wouldn’t even mind the players losing their temper occasionally, the fans certainly do.

At least Sunderland didn’t cave when they went a goal down and actually battled back against an in-form Coventry team and that gives me hope but it is small rewards for a fanbase that deserves so much more.

Coventry boss Mark Robins hit the nail on the head when he said after the game that his team had thrown it away and he must have been hugely frustrated that a young player thrown on, more in hope than anything else, denied his team all three points.

I couldn’t be more pleased for young Benji Kimpioka, your first league goal is always special, a milestone you treasure forever so at least one young man will remember last Saturday’s game for a lot longer than the rest of us will.