PHIL Bardsley urged Sunderland supporters to get behind the team rather than voice their disapproval.

After leaving the field to a chorus of boos in the wake of Saturday’s fourth consecutive home defeat, the fullback called on the Stadium of Light crowd to help the side turn around their stuttering campaign.

“The fans are disappointed but we need them to be behind us. We need everyone.

When the going gets tough you need everybody, not just the players. People booing them and stuff is not going to make things better,” confirmed the 23-year-old.

“Of course, we need the fans more than ever. We can’t afford to have them booing us every time we lose. Everyone’s trying to do their best.’’ Bardsley was perhaps the least culpable of a hapless Sunderland back four, who gifted the game to Bolton with a series of schoolboy errors.

The right-back, who was asked to play on the left-side of a re-shuffled defence, struggled to explain why Roy Keane’s side had thrown away their early lead.

“It’s difficult to sum up really.

We killed ourselves with our own mistakes. After we went one up we took our foot off the gas a little bit and we got punished. It’s so disappointing because I thought we got off to a good start,” he said. “We have to bounce back quickly.”

Bolton striker Johan Elmander has struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League after his £8.2m move in June.

But on Saturday he looked a world-beater against a Sunderland defence who gifted the Sweden international time and space to grab a brace of goals.

Bardsley said: “You get punished for mistakes in the Premier League. We all make mistakes, we’re all human.

We’re allowed to make mistakes, it’s how you react after it.

“At 2-1 we had a goal disallowed which should never have been disallowed. The decision went against us but there’s no room for making excuses, we’ve got to start picking points up.

“I don’t know why that’s happened, to be honest.

“Of course everyone expects better but at this moment in time the luck’s not with us. We need to start picking points up quickly.

“I think we tried to do things the right way. We always try to play, that’s what we’ve been taught by the manager and the coaching staff, that’ll never change.

But it’s so disappointing, our own mistakes have killed us.”

Bardsley, who confirmed that the Sunderland dressing room remained united despite the humiliating defeat, admitted: “We’re not pointing fingers at anybody because we’re all honest enough lads to hold our hands up when we’ve made mistakes.”

And the full-back who made eight appearances for Manchester United, was looking forward to Saturday’s daunting trip to his former club.

“We’ll go to Old Trafford and give it our best shot,’’ he said.

“People won’t be expecting us to get much there but we’ll go there, give it our best, and hopefully get something.”