Gillingham 1 Sunderland 3

GILLINGHAM were given a footballing lesson by an impressive Sunderland side on Tuesday night.

The Gills were aiming for their third straight league win and started the match in promising style.

Paul Shaw gave the Gills the lead eight minutes before the break when he headed home after Chris Hope flicked on an Andy Hessenthaler corner.

But Stewart Downing fired in an equaliser from a John Oster cross after 45 minutes, just 60 seconds after Marcus Stewart had hit the post from two yards out.

Sunderland cut Gillingham to pieces in the second half and Oster gave them the lead on 58 minutes. Oster the turned provider to set up Stewart to make it 3-1 on 72 minutes.