JODY CRADDOCK revealed last night how Sunderland's players are feeling the full force of their fans' anger - from the pitch to the petrol station.
After five straight Premiership defeats, the patience of the Black Cats' long-suffering supporters is at breaking point as they begin to contemplate the ignominy of relegation from the Premiership.
Craddock, 27, rejects accusations that the Sunderland squad are not fully committed to the cause as they try to pull off an increasingly unlikely rescue act - but he empathises with the fans.
Their frustration is spilling over into the everyday lives of a struggling Sunderland side that head to Fulham tomorrow, desperate to arrest an alarming slump that is in danger of seeing them cut adrift in 20th place. He said: "It's not very nice when you go to put some petrol in your car and someone gives you stick about what's happening at the club.
"But an incident like that is understandable. It comes with the job and we just have to take it on the chin. This is a difficult time. It's just as disappointing for us when we lose as it is for everyone else.
"I don't want to lose any game I play and it's exactly the same for the rest of the players.
"We're giving it everything, whether it looks like that or not. Nobody wants to be where we are, and we don't want to go down.
"We work hard in training. We don't just come in, stand around and have a joke; we're all committed, and it hurts when people say that we're not committed."
Craddock insists the players are having problems handling the pressure of trying to preserve Sunderland's Premiership status in their fourth season back in the top flight.
Howard Wilkinson claimed after the 3-1 defeat to Charlton Athletic on February 1 that games at the Stadium of Light no longer held a fear factor for his squad.
Since then, they have lost to Watford and Middlesbrough, and only beaten Blackburn Rovers in a penalty shoot-out. Craddock said: "We're playing for survival, so there's heavy pressure on us - and the pressure doesn't help.
"If we were sitting comfortably in the middle of the table, there would be no pressure, and we'd be able to go out there and play with confidence.
"It's a lot different when you're at the bottom of the League and, unless you've actually been out on a pitch and experienced these circumstances, it's hard to understand what it's like.
"No disrespect to the clubs down there, but we don't want to play in the First Division."
Wilkinson confirmed last night that Claudio Reyna, who suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury in October, will not play again this season.
The United States captain is running again in training, but faces a lengthy spell of rehabilitation before he is fit enough for first-team football. Wilkinson said: "I thought when the injury was diagnosed that it was a probability that he would be out for the rest of the season.
"Claudio and I would be satisfied if he were able to start the pre-season feeling that he was at the same level as the other players.
"He'll be desperate just to knock one day off his recovery period, but I don't see him playing a part in the next ten games."
Thomas Myhre is due to see a specialist in an effort to cure the ongoing thigh injury that has bedevilled the goalkeeper since October.
Centre-backs Emerson Thome (knee) and Joachim Bjorklund (hamstring) will miss tomorrow's trip to Loftus Road.
Read more about Sunderland here.
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