WE NEED TO DO BASICS – JOHNSON
LEE JOHNSON has urged his Sunderland players to quickly get back to doing things right after a home defeat to Charlton put a dent into their automatic promotion hopes.
The Addicks, unbeaten in eight, secured the points to stay in touch with the play-off zone courtesy of an own-goal from Black Cats midfielder Josh Scowen in the 31st minute and a low finish from Alex Gilbey in the 61st minute.
Scowen pulled one back for Johnson’s side with 13 minutes left, but they couldn’t find an equaliser.
Charlton ended Sunderland’s 14-match unbeaten run in all competitions, leaving them five points behind second-placed Peterborough, albeit with a game in hand. They are eight shy of leaders Hull.
Johnson said: “We let them off the hook too many times. If you’re going to get clean sheets against a big strong side like Charlton, you have to do your fundamentals.
“If we get enough chances we fancy ourselves to convert a decent rate. We have proven that over a run of games. But we carried two or three individuals today and you can’t do that against a top seven or eight side. I have to look back at that.”
Sunderland could, and perhaps should, have been in front before the opening goal, but top scorer Charlie Wyke missed two fantastic opportunities.
Charlton took the lead when Scowen’s attempted clearance on the line hit the roof of the net after Ryan Inniss’ header was only half saved by Lee Burge.
Charlton striker Jayden Stockley had already headed against a post when Gilbey latched on to his flick-on just after the hour to add the second from close range.
Scowen made amends with a 20-yard diving header with 13 minutes left after goalkeeper Ben Amos had denied Wyke again to put Sunderland back in it. But Sunderland couldn’t find a way to level things up in a frantic five minutes of stoppage-time.
Charlton boss Nigel Adkins, who has overseen three matches since taking over from Lee Bowyer, said: “That is a good win away from home for us. They are a good side, as they demonstrated, and to win here and score two, was very good, and we could have had more. We hit a post in both halves and had other chances.
“I was really pleased with the two goals because we are a threat from set-pieces and we felt we could expose that. We had to show resilience and grit to play here and get a result against a good side.
“This is the important stage of the season when results are everything and we have another good victory to keep us in touch with those final play-off positions.” SUNDERLAND: Burge 6, Power 6, Sanderson 7, O’Nien 7, McFadzean 7 (Stewart 62, 7), Scowen 7, Winchester 6 (Jones 60, 6), Gooch 6 (Hume 62, 6), McGeady 7, O’Brien 6 (McLaughlin 60, 6), Wyke 7. Subs not used: Matthews, Diamond, Leadbitter.
CHARLTON: Amos 7, Matthews 7, Inniss 7, Pearce 7, Purrington 6, Gilbey 7, Pratley 6, Forster-Caskey 7, Maatsen 6 (Millar 66, 6), Stockley 8, Jaiyesimi 7 (Gunter 73, 6). Subs not used: Oshilaja, Shinnie, Watson, Schwartz, Maynard-Brewer.