Sunderland's promotion bid suffered another setback as they were held to a damaging 1-1 draw by relegation-threatened Gillingham and booed off by their own supporters at the Stadium of Light.

The inactivity of second-placed Wigan had given the Black Cats the opportunity to steal a march on their rivals by edging two points above them.

But despite fielding an adventurous three-pronged attack, Sunderland's promotion credentials will again be questioned after they failed to bounce back from their New Year's Day defeat at Preston with a victory against one of the Championship's lowliest sides.

The visitors began brightly and took an early in the 14th minute when former Sunderland striker Darren Byfield teased and tormented the home defence before crossing for Darius Henderson to head home.

The lead lasted just four minutes, however, as Sunderland left-back George McCartney embarked on a jinking run which took him past three defenders before he crossed low for Chris Brown to turn in at the near post.

Black Cats manager Mick McCarthy has started with Sean Thornton in midfield at the expense of Matt Piper, while Brown stepped was drafted in for injured Argentine winger Julio Arca.

The visitors, buoyed by four points from their last two matches, recalled Henderson, former manager Andy Hessenthaler and Richard Rose to replace injury-victims Nayron Nosworthy, Alan Pouton and Mamady Sidibe.

The impressive Byfield almost opened the scoring when Dean Whitehead's undercooked backpass allowed him to collect the ball on the edge of the penalty area before a combination of keeper Thomas Myhre and defender Gary Breen deflected his effort to safety.

The mistake jolted the hosts into life as they immediately tore upfield where Stewart played Thornton in with a perfectly-timed through ball.

The former Tranmere man matched the pass with an emphatic finish from 10 yards but the effort was ruled out for a marginal offside call.

Gillingham continued to press and Henderson struck before Brown's equaliser followed shortly afterwards.

The injured Breen was replaced by Neill Collins minutes before the interval and, with his side struggling to break down a dogged Gillingham defence, McCarthy made another change 15 minutes after the break with Jeff Whitley with Piper.

Inspired by the tigerish Hessenthaler in midfield, however, Gillingham continued to fight for every ball and with Byfield and Henderson in attack, they possessed a dangerous goal threat on the counter-attack.

With little over 20 minutes remaining Michael Bridges replaced Brown but the former Leeds striker made little impact.

And the Black Cats were left breathing a huge sigh of relief seconds later as Rose fired over after substitute Matthew Jarvis burst into the box unopposed.

Another Gillingham counter-attack saw Jarvis deliver a mouth-watering pass across the face of goal and into the path of the on-rushing Byfield.

Inexplicably, the former Sunderland striker failed to connect properly and the ball was cleared to safety.

Gills defender Barry Ashby then handled the ball inches outside the home penalty area and was shown a yellow card but the subsequent free-kick was wasted by Sunderland and Jarvis again forced Myrhe into action as the visitors continued to threaten at the other end.

Teams:

Sunderland Myhre, Wright, Breen (Neill Collins 42), Caldwell, McCartney, Thornton, Whitehead, Whitley (Piper 58), Stewart, Elliott, Brown (Bridges 68).

Subs Not Used: Welsh, Alnwick.

Goals: Brown 19.

Gillingham Banks, Rose, Smith, Ashby, Hills (Jarvis 29), Southall, Hessenthaler, Crofts, Cox, Henderson (Roberts 78), Byfield.

Subs Not Used: Bossu, Bodkin, Beckwith.

Booked: Byfield, Ashby.

Goals: Henderson 15.

Att: 27,147

Ref: M Atkinson (W Yorkshire).