Sunderland were beaten 2-1 by Fleetwood Town in their last match.
Sunderland were beaten 2-1 by Fleetwood to officially end their chances of automatic promotion.
The Black Cats had a lead in the contest, but they let it slip and fell to defeat.
And Ross was left angry with his side for showing their fragility.
“Rightly so [manager had strong words], strong words were said in the dressing room,” he said.
“The fans turned out in great numbers and we didn’t do them justice.
“I know we started the game well and got the goal. We spoke at half-time about sloppiness maybe creeping in and we needed to make sure that didn’t happen in the second half. The reaction wasn’t there, really.”
Sunderland’s form in recent weeks has been poor, and it has cost them a chance of automatic promotion.
Ross’ men were well on course to take a top two spot, but they could not take advantage of their games in hand.
Sunderland will now have to go up through the play offs, if they are to earn an immediate promotion back to the Championship.
Sunderland’s last game of the season comes at the weekend, when they take on relegation threatened Southend United.
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