A DEFIANT David Moyes has vowed to take calls for him to be sacked as Sunderland manager “on the chin” ahead of a weekend when the club’s ten-year Premier League stay could officially come to an end.

Moyes risked further wrath from supporters by claiming his players were “fantastic” after the Black Cats lost for the 22nd time out of 33 games in the Premier League this season when Middlesbrough won 1-0 at the Riverside Stadium.

It was another severe blow to the former Manchester United and Everton boss, who was charged by the Football Association earlier in the day over his comments to BBC journalist Vicki Sparks when he threatened to “slap her”.

The chances are that both Sunderland and Middlesbrough will be heading to the Championship next season, but at least Boro have given themselves a glimmer of hope courtesy of collecting three points after Marten de Roon’s early winner.

Bottom club Sunderland’s failure to defeat the team sitting immediately above them in the table means they are 12 points adrift of safety with five matches remaining. If Hull City better their result over the weekend, Sunderland will be down.

Such a depressing position saw angry chants of “Moyesie out” from the near 3,000 away fans at the Riverside, before directing “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” towards the players after the final whistle was blown.

Asked what Moyes thought about the demands for him to go, he said: “When you are the manager at the bottom of the league it is to be expected, but let me tell you it is the first time it has happened to me at any club I have been at.

“I am here, you take it on the chin and there’s no one who wants to win more than me. I am used to winning. I am not used to losing. I don’t want to get used to it either.

“I am a football supporter, and you don’t like seeing a team lose, tonight we have lost but I think there’s ways to lose, and tonight I think the players put in a performance that would have given us a chance of winning other games.

“If we had played like we have tonight in other games then we would have picked up more points and won more games.”

Despondent Sunderland players cut dejected figures at the final whistle after another reversal which has left them with just one win from their last 16 Premier League games.

That didn’t stop the fans from letting their feelings known as some of them went over to applaud them, with Wahbi Khazri seen handing his shirt to a fan in the front row.

Sunderland need a miracle to extend their stay in the top-flight, but Moyes does not think his players deserved to come under fire after narrowly losing at North-East neighbours Middlesbrough. He’s not prepared to accept relegation yet either.

Moyes said: “While there’s a chance I will keep going, and we all have to keep going. We are not enjoying it, we are not enjoying losing and not enjoying the position we are in.

“Criticism is rightly due but I wouldn’t have done it based on tonight’s performance or the West Ham performance - the players have stuck at it. The players have shown they are capable of trying to get points. I just think the players have done well tonight.”

He added: “If the fans think that … I wouldn’t have said that tonight, I’d have supported the players tonight totally. I thought every one of them fought for the jersey, I couldn’t name a player tonight who didn’t fight for the jersey.”

Sunderland started brightly before de Roon’s opener on the counter attack in the ninth minute and after that Middlesbrough were able to keep the visitors’ advances at bay to claim three points.

Moyes said: “It’s a tough defeat to take, we played well at times even if we didn’t create enough chances. We have had criticism in other games that was rightfully correct, but I thought tonight and against West Ham we played well.

“We didn’t give Middlesbrough many opportunities, they didn’t give us many. It wasn’t for the want of trying. I thought the character of the players was fantastic, the effort they put in. We just came up short.

“We gave away a poor goal when it looked like we were on top and that meant we were chasing for rest of the game. The players kept at it and never gave in.”

Moyes, meanwhile, was charged by the FA for making comments that were "improper and/or threatening and/or brought the game into disrepute", and has until 6pm on May 3 to respond.

The Sunderland boss was infuriated with questions about his job security in the wake of Ellis Short's visit to the Stadium of Light against Burnley when he told Sparks: "It was getting a wee bit naughty at the end there so just watch yourself. You still might get a slap even though you’re a woman."

His comments were widely condemned, and he has subsequently apologised to Sparks.