Gillingham boss Neil Harris praised Sunderland's 'excellent' performance as the Black Cats dominated from start to finish against his struggling side. Sunderland enjoyed 80 percent of the possession and had 25 efforts on goal - albeit only five of them on target - but took until the fifth minute of injury time before substitute Nathan Broadhead finally scored the decisive goal at the Stadium of Light.
The Gills were within touching distance of earning a point that would have helped edge them closer to safety when the goal went in, but Harris admits that the Black Cats deserved their win. "I thought Sunderland were excellent," said Harris, who took over at Gillingham at the end of January and has dragged the club out of the relegation zone.
"For spells of the game they made it really difficult for us to get out of our own half, I think they showed the quality they possess. You look at the front four that have started, tens of millions they have moved for at stages of their career.
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"They caused all sorts of problems early on, which we were able to deal with. At times we looked really comfortable even if we didn't have much of a threat ourselves.
"I felt this would be our toughest test between now and the end of the season. Obviously it's tough to take when you concede in the last minute, and it's an avoidable goal, but sometimes you have to say fair play to your opponent.
"In spells, they played very well."
Broadhead got above Jack Tucker to head home, and Harris said: "It's tough to take for Jack, who might well have been put down as man of the match because he stood up to so much through the match. But I said to the whole group afterwards, if you want to compete against the big clubs and in the higher divisions, you have to play for as long as the referee says you have to play.
"Good players found a way to score against us."
Sunderland kept their fifth clean sheet in six games, and they prevented Gillingham having so much as a single shot on target. But rather than talk about his side's shortcomings, Harris preferred to focus on the solidity of Sunderland centre-backs Bailey Wright and Danny Batth.
He said: "I think you have to say that Sunderland had two experienced Championship centre halves, and they dominated the middle of the pitch. We didn't create as much as we have done in the other games I've been here, but to be honest I didn't expect much different.
"This is probably the game I've feared most in my time here because I knew the quality they've got and also the work that Alex [Neil] would do during his two weeks without a game. I'm not in a position to judge my players for what they didn't do, I want to praise them for what they did do for 96 minutes, knowing full well that producing that level of performance and desire will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season.
"I don't think conceding a late goal at Sunderland will define our season."
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