Sunderland boss Johnson felt Charlton’s opening goal was a foul – “The officials have let us down”

Sunderland manager Lee Johnson felt the match officials needed to take some of the blame for Charlton’s opening goal as the hosts saw their 14-game unbeaten run come to an end.

Josh Scowen’s own goal and a strike from Alex Gilbey earned the Addicks maximum points at the Stadium Of Light.

But Johnson was critical of the build-up to the first-half opener. Charlton captain Jason Pearce appeared to hold back Ryan Inniss’ marker – with the centre-back enjoying a free header in the box which led to Scowen slicing into the net.

Johnson told Sunderland’s official website: “It was a really poor goal to concede. Individuals not doing their job, however I include the fourth official and officials in that because we feel it was a foul – a clever block by them. They have got to do their research and have eyes on the sections in and around the goal. We’ve got to be stronger but they have got to do their job as well – they’ve let us down today on that one.

“We had the first two or three really good chances in the game and we didn’t take them. We carried two or three individuals in the first half, who weren’t absolutely at top form. It’s hard to do that against a side who is in the top seven or eight in the division – especially with the experience they’ve got.

“Everybody out there in the second half tried to give it a go. We ran forward, we played forward – some of our protocol let them out two or three times to counter, which wasn’t ideal.

“Despite working some fantastic areas we let them off the hook too many times with our poor quality crossing. That is quite unlike us – we’ve got a lot of players who can deliver a ball. There were eight or nine times in the second half we have worked the ball into a great area – with men in the box and ahead of their marker – and we failed to deliver.

“They can then take time to frustrate and delay on the restart.

“We knew they [Charlton] would set their stall out to be compact and press off of that. They’ve got physical experience and set-plays were always going to be difficult with the personnel we had out today. They probably had six or seven inches extra on us in and around the box.

“The second goal is a shocking one to concede. A lot of our clean sheets this season have come from those world-class basics, if you like, that the untrained eye might not see the detail that goes into that. So when that lets you down for at least a point – because I think we’d have got a goal and potentially pushed on for a second one – that second goal was probably my biggest frustration of the day.

“We didn’t pepper the goal but we peppered the box. We certainly had a lot of territory.”