Stephen Elliott has taken to Twitter to give his reaction to Sunderland’s defeat to Bristol Rovers away from home on Tuesday evening.

The Black Cats suffered a 2-0 loss at the hands of Rovers away from home at the Memorial Stadium in League One.

Jonson Clarke-Harris put the home team in the lead after 39 minutes, and he doubled the advantage from the penalty spot in the 75th minute.

Former Sunderland forward Elliott was following the match, and he was far from impressed with the performance of the players and has strong criticised them.

Seriously inept performance. If anything it shows how far off this squad of players are. Not good enough. Got the plaudits during decent run. However when there has been a chance of pushing into top places in table they have themselves!!! Not even a shot at goal yet!!! #awful

— Stephen Elliott (@SleevesElliott) March 10, 2020

Where does this team go from here There has been some real poor performances this season but that was the worse by far. So hard to watch. Wooden and rigid. Painful to watch. Hoof hoof hoof. Bristol Rovers could have scored 4 and it wouldn’t have flattered them!!! #safc

— Stephen Elliott (@SleevesElliott) March 10, 2020

Not enough hunger in this squad to better themselves and get promoted. I feel majority of squad know they won’t be good enough for Championship and aren’t that bothered about going up as they will be moved on from club if they do. Just happy to be here in L1. #safc

— Stephen Elliott (@SleevesElliott) March 10, 2020

Stats

Over the course of the 90 minutes at the Memorial Stadium on Tuesday evening, hosts Rovers had 39% of the possession, took eight shots of which three were on target, and earned five corners, according to BBC Sport.

Visitors Sunderland had 61% of the possession, took six shots of which two were on target, and earned two corners, according to BBC Sport.

Automatic promotion race

The defeat to Rovers means that Sunderland are seventh in the League One table at the moment with 59 points from 36 matches.

Phil Parkinson’s side are as many as eight points behind leaders Coventry City – who have played 34 games – and three points behind second-placed Rotherham United, who have played 35 matches.