Joe Gelhardt is off the mark for Sunderland - but his first goal for the club could not prevent the Black Cats' play-off hopes taking a knock as they slipped to a shock defeat at relegation strugglers Rotherham United. The Black Cats trailed 2-0 against the Millers at the New York Stadium with less than an hour gone, with Ollie Rathbone putting the hosts ahead in the opening 20 minutes and former Newcastle United man Shane Ferguson adding the second ten minutes after the break.
On-loan Leeds United man Gelhardt, who had earlier had a 'goal' chalked off for offside, pulled one back for the visitors just after the hour to give Tony Mowbray's men hope. And they piled the pressure on in the closing stages but could not force an equaliser, and they committed so many bodies forward they almost conceded a third when sub Conor Washington hit the post late on.
Sunderland would have gone fourth had they won, but defeat meant they dropped to eighth in the table and are now a point outside the play-off spots. For Rotherham, this victory ended their five-game winless streak and they moved up one place to fifth-bottom.
