WHEN Phil Parkinson emerged from a shell-shocked Sunderland dressing room on Saturday evening to attempt to explain another dismal defeat on the road, he conducted it in front of an empty away end.

Half an hour earlier, howls of derision and fury from 1,339 apoplectic Mackems had rained down on him from that same stand as he left the Priestfield pitch.

Had they still been present instead of trudging away into the night contemplating a second 1-0 defeat by Gillingham in the space of 18 days, the Sunderland supporters would surely have drowned out Parkinson’s plea that his side had deserved something from the game.

The simple truth is they didn’t.

Charlie Wyke’s 77th-minute finish from a Will Grigg cross was correctly disallowed for a tug on keeper Jack Bonham by Luke O’Nien.

Meanwhile, replays showed that Brandon Hanlan’s first-half header had crossed the Sunderland line and ought to have been given as a goal for the home side.

Aside from those two decisions, Parkinson’s contention that Gillingham had subjected his side to a long ball bombardment didn’t wash either.

Steve Evans’ team played with an intensity that Sunderland could not match, yet they created most of their chances by passing their way around a defence that failed to cope with their pace.

By contrast, Sunderland were so ponderous when they tried to build up from the back that full-backs Conor McLaughlin and Tom Flanagan eventually ran out of patience and simply punted the ball long to no positive effect.

It was left to substitute Wyke to point out the obvious contrast with Sunderland’s last league visit to Priestfield 15 months ago, a convincing 4-1 win. They miserably lost there in the FA Cup just last month.

Wyke said: “Obviously confidence is low. When you’re flying in the league like we were last year, you do create chances. We came here and scored four goals last year. It’s not going quite like that at the minute, so we need to try and get back to those levels.

“Of course we are all behind the manager. All we want to do is play well and get results. It’s not happening at the minute, so we just have to work hard and put things right.

“We are going through it with him. We’re not playing well and we’re not getting results. Things aren’t going our way, but everyone’s behind each other.

“I’m from the North-East, so I know how much it means to the fans. It’s the be all and end all for them. We want to play well and don’t want to be getting beaten.

“Obviously it’s a terrible result but we’ve just got to try and bounce back.”

Returning from an ankle ligament injury sustained in Parkinson’s first game in charge in mid-October, Wyke was introduced with the score at 0-0 with 28 minutes to go, replacing the ineffective Marc McNulty, himself back from injury.

By the time Chris Maguire made his entrance, only two minutes of injury time remained and Sunderland were trailing to Connor Ogilvie’s neat finish on the turn.

Up went the cries of “You don’t know what you’re doing” from the away end towards Parkinson. Judging by his cautious team selection full of tackling and covering midfielders, he knew exactly what he was doing.

Whether he was doing the right thing in making six changes and trying to play for a point away to a side in lower mid-table is another question altogether.

With the attacking riches at his disposal, Sunderland supporters simply do not want to see Parkinson looking for draws instead of wins on the road.

Creativity was almost non-existent with only O’Nien, the tireless George Dobson and substitute Wyke offering anything like an attacking threat. And even then, it was through hard running and individual endeavour rather than cohesive team play.

O’Nien had a shot beaten away by Bonham after being set up by Dobson, while Wyke dragged a shot just wide moments after coming on prior to his disallowed finish from a Will Grigg cross.

Gillingham, by contrast, struck the woodwork twice, through Hanlan and Mikael Mandron, the former Sunderland prospects. They also created numerous goalmouth scrambles which Sunderland were fortunate to survive until Ogilvie’s last-gasp winner.

With only one more game scheduled before Christmas, attention now switches to Blackpool on Saturday and the return of Simon Grayson to the Stadium of Light.

It has escaped no-one’s notice, including that of Parkinson, how Grayson has turned Blackpool into free-scoring promotion contenders, something he was not afforded the opportunity to do at Sunderland.

Parkinson said: “It’s a massive game for us next week. We’ve got to get back on the training ground on Monday and get ready for that.

“Simon has got a lot of experience, we know that. He’ll come back with his Blackpool team and we look forward to the game.”

Parkinson professed not to hear the cries of “You don’t know what you’re doing” as they floated away on the December wind in Kent.

Fail to win on Saturday and he will be unable to ignore them.