Phil Smith's verdict: Making sense of Sunderland's late show and where Alex Neil's side stand

A dangerous cross to the front post, and you wondered if this might be the moment that Ross Stewart did what he has done so often for Sunderland this season.
Nathan Broadhead celebrates a late goal for SunderlandNathan Broadhead celebrates a late goal for Sunderland
Nathan Broadhead celebrates a late goal for Sunderland

But there again was the hugely impressive Jack Tucker, making the challenge and allowing his goalkeeper to gather, to waste a few more precious moments.

By now there was barely a minute left on the clock and it looked for all money as if this would be one of those days.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Gillingham came to frustrate, and they did it well. Cleared every cross, took every second possible out of the game. A playbook every Sunderland supporter knows only too well by now.

Would this have been it for the club’s top-six aspirations? Not exactly, with eighteen points still to play for and rivals still to face. All the same, the growing sense of another glaring opportunity missed, of more enthusiasm ebbing out of the campaign with another goalless draw, was unmistakable.

Then, and perhaps this is significant in and of itself, Sunderland did something that they have not done anywhere near enough this season.

In the final moments, they found a way, turned one point into three.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

An inch-perfect cross from Elliot Embleton, a slight misjudgement from Tucker and an excellent, deft header from Nathan Broadhead.

Hope, relief, delirium, an outpouring of emotions on the pitch, in the stands and in the dugout somewhere between all three.

Any promotion campaign needs these moments, belief borne from snatching a result that looked to be gone.

In this campaign, it has all too often been Sunderland’s rivals finding a way but under Alex Neil that has begun to shift.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And for Neil, it was a moment that vindicated the message he had instilled all week into his players.

His training sessions had been specifically designed to prepare his attacking players for the low block that would await them, urging them to keep a cool head in search of that moment of quality.

Was it in the plan for that to arrive in the 95th minute? Most definitely not, and the head coach joked that he had lost ten years of his life as a result. Finally, though, Embleton delivered.

“The training this week, I have been trying to frustrate them as much as possible,” Neil explained.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I needed to get them to the point where they understood that the frustration can’t boil over into us losing our discipline, our shape or our way of playing.

“I knew what was coming, that they would have to persevere, and find a way to break them down.

“I set the other team in a bank of ten, and say, ‘Right, we need to break them down’. What happens in training is that players want to play, score, cut inside and do all the nice things. “When you set a bank of ten behind the ball, it’s really frustrating for your forward players. I’ve replicated that pretty much every day this week, and they’ve been extremely frustrated.

“What I’ve then said is, ‘That’s what’s coming, don’t get frustrated because you need to keep committing to the process and eventually you will break it down’. Thankfully, we did. It made that message not untrue.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s another confirmation in their head that what I’m telling them is not a load of rubbish. So, that’s helpful.”

Both managers said after the game that Sunderland’s winner was deserved, even if there was an acceptance from Neil that his side could have done more with their total dominance of the ball.

Though they had 25 shots only five were on target and even in those instances, the opposition goalkeeper was not unduly trouble.

They had started very brightly, Patrick Roberts and Jack Clarke a constant threat driving infield. But as Gillingham adjusted Sunderland became a little too predictable and a little too easy to defend against, reflecting the fact that Neil is still learning about his best attacking combinations even as the end of the campaign races into view.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Harris and his side became increasingly comfortable with letting Clarke and Roberts run into congested areas, and too often the delivery from right across the pitch lacked quality. The service into Stewart was threadbare, and it made for an often frustrating watch.

Sunderland did persist, though, and Neil’s changes again made a difference.

That the winner came from an Embleton cross was no coincidence; he brought something different in the way he drifted between the lines to ask a different question of the visitor’s shape. Lynden Gooch also brought some welcome width and energy out wide while Broadhead simply served another reminder of his quality.

Of all the factors at play in Sunderland’s promotion hopes, how his hamstring reacts to the challenges ahead is one of the most important.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It was also another afternoon that underlined the defensive improvements Neil has brought.

He has tinkered with his defensive personnel regularly to meet the challenges of each particular game, and it worked again here. Danny Batth was brought in to partner Bailey Wright and the pair snuffed out every set piece Gillingham won,

Though his inclusion can divide opinion, Neil has also deployed Corry Evans to ensure that the counter-attacking chances Sunderland were so often conceding have all but dried up entirely.

There may be work to do at the other end, but Sunderland are giving their opponents next to nothing to work with and there was a stark admission from Harris afterwards. Asked if he was disappointed with his side’s lack of attacking threat, he essentially said not really. Against this side, he expected nothing different.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As the season enters the final furlong that is Sunderland’s biggest asset.

Finished article? Far from it, and we saw that again here. In the mix? Very, very much so.

In that regard, job done, for today at least.

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