OVER the last six months, or even the last few years, there have been plenty of miserable afternoons for Sunderland supporters to endure.

The latest was one of the worst, if not the worst, on a day when it was hard to leave the Stadium of Light thinking about anything other than freezing temperatures and the prospect of League One football.

The snow falling and the icy blasts from the swirling wind made a dour second half feel even worse. Anyone hoping for the football to have served up something to warm them up was sadly let down.

Preston’s band of travelling supporters might disagree, but the truth is that even the play-off-chasing Lilywhites only left with the points because of the ridiculous nature of Sunderland’s defending.

“You wouldn’t even expect schoolboys to make those sort of mistakes” claimed Chris Coleman. He was right.

Constant mistakes are a major part of Sunderland’s plight, that’s true. If only the problems ended there, Coleman might have at least found it easier to address. The truth is they don’t, and everyone connected with the Wearside club appreciates that.

That is why Coleman – facing another off-field problem after Irish midfielder Darron Gibson was suspended following a charge of drink-driving – is receiving the benefit of the doubt.

Even though Coleman has only a marginally better points-to-games ratio than predecessor Simon Grayson, and even though the former defender is struggling to solve the team’s penchant to self-destruct, Sunderland would be in a mess anyway. A big mess.

When you consider they have won 35 fewer league games than any other club to have played in the top four divisions of English football in each of the last 11 seasons, it is easy to understand why the 48,000-capacity venue is less than half full these days.

Ellis Short, the club’s owner, doesn’t want to be in control but can’t find a buyer and the players are simply not good enough to form a strong enough team to have made a fist of life in the Championship.

Non-playing staff fear for their jobs, with more cuts expected, and there is a mixture of anger, frustration, disappointment and apathy among the fans.

Sunderland feels like a club dying, and it is hard to see a glimmer of light.

Kazenga LuaLua, who only signed from Brighton in January, said: “When you’re not winning games the atmosphere can’t be good, you know that.

“It is a good group of lads here and we have to stick together. Years ago I had the same situation at Brighton in League One but we had experienced players who stuck together.

“People say we’re gone, we’re down, but it can change in a moment, you have to fight to the end. It’s not good for the fans to come week in, week out, pay their money and we’re not winning games for them.

“The boys are angry in the dressing room, you have to have that when you get beat. It’s our job. We have to fight, I know it will be tough but at Brighton we fought to the end and it happened for us. We have to keep going, keep believing.”

How Sunderland can do that is the big question which Coleman has not been able to answer so far. For all he has tried this and that, the proud North-East club prop up the rest of the Championship.

Sunderland only have eight games, four at home – which is hardly a bonus after winning just twice there since December 2016 – to save themselves from League One football; hardly likely to make attracting investment easier.

Yet Coleman still remains focused on being the man to finally turn things around at a club which has got the better of others before him.

LuaLua said: “We know it is getting harder and harder because the games are running out. It is tough for a player but can you imagine how tough it is for a manager? Where we are in the table it is hard but you just have to keep fighting.

“I wanted to come here to try to help the boys. I wanted to come here and I don’t regret it at all. Anything is possible in football.

“Where we are in the league, we need points and that’s another disappointing game. You can’t give up, there’s eight games left and we need to try to win as many as we can.”

Like so often this season, Sunderland started off brightly enough. In fact by the time the half-time whistle had blown it was hard to tell which of the teams was pushing for a top-six spot.

Preston’s Tom Barkhuizen and Callum Robinson caused problems out wide, while striker Sean Maguire – who started the season playing for Cork City – provided the presence in the penalty area Sunderland have lacked since Lewis Grabban left.

But Sunderland looked solid enough at that stage, while Ovie Ejaria looked impressive in the middle and Joel Asoro was lively in the final third to give the visitors something to think about. Asoro had a decent chance saved after he had been put through by Ejaria.

Then Sunderland did what they tend to do – throw the points away. Within five minutes of the restart, Maguire headed in his seventh goal in as many games by casually losing his marker, Asoro, at the back post to nod in Paul Gallagher’s free-kick.

Ten minutes later, Jake Clarke-Salter, back from suspension, was red-carded for the second time after two avoidable cautions, and then Preston added the second three minutes later. This time Robinson was given the space to head in Barkhuizen’s deep centre. Game over.

Substitute LuaLua, who forced keeper Chris Maxwell into a save from a free-kick, said: “We knew there was an opportunity with Barnsley losing earlier and the boys started well. But you have to focus for 90 minutes, it is the same thing again, sloppy goals conceded in the second half. We have to stick together.

“The boys had a few chances but football is a 90-minute game and we had another sending-off.

“We have to keep believing that anything can happen in eight games. We have to fight until the end.”

The scoreline could have been worse. When Bryan Oviedo had to clear a Daniel Johnson effort off the line in stoppage-time there were hardly any Sunderland fans left in the ground.

Sunderland are heading for League One and it doesn’t look like Coleman, or anyone else, can do anything to prevent it.