RICKY Sbragia last night admitted his Sunderland players were suffering from a “fear factor” because of their precarious position on the edge of the relegation zone.

With Newcastle and Middlesbrough both losing this weekend, the Black Cats kicked off against Everton yesterday knowing a victory would have all but secured their Premier League status.

Instead, they produced one of their poorest home displays of the campaign during a chastening 2-0 defeat that left them just four points clear of the drop zone with three games to play.

Too many of Sunderland’s players were hesitant in possession, and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard did not have to make a single save of note as the hosts displayed a glaring lack of both creativity and incision.

With yesterday’s defeat following hot on the heels of last weekend’s humiliating reverse at West Brom, the Black Cats boss admits the pressure of the relegation battle is affecting his players’ performance.

“I think there is a fear,” said Sbragia, who confirmed that a fit Andy Reid had been dropped from Sunderland’s 18-man squad. “It would be wrong to say there’s not an element of fear with some of the players. Maybe they’re frightened to make a decision, and the fear factor might be preventing them from passing the ball better.

“There’s a fear comes with that. There were times when we had decent possession, but we didn’t take the right option.

We looked fearful and we deserved what we got.

“People on the ball needed to take better responsibility, but that didn’t happen.”

As well as shunning attacking responsibility, Sunderland’s players also failed to display the kind of passion and spirit that might have been expected of a team fighting for their Premier League lives.

With the temperature in the stands rising in a second half that w i t n e s s e d goals from both Steven Pienaar and Marouane Fellaini, a number of home supporters accused their players of not caring about the Black Cats’ plight.

Sbragia, however, refutes the suggestion, and claims his squad are only too aware of the potential impact of relegation from the top-flight.

“The players care,” said Sbragia, left. “Their personal and p r o f e s s i o n a l reputations are on the line and they know that. They all realise the situation we’re in.

“Everybody’s reputation is on the line, and we need to do better. They all care, but it’s about whether they can reproduce their form in a game from now on in.

“That’s the problem – I’m not sure what their nerves are like when they go out. We need to get refocused now and make sure we move up the table and get points.”

Both the half-time and fulltime whistles were accompanied by a chorus of boos, but Sbragia claimed he understood the fans’ frustrations and accepted their disdain.

“That sort of thing happens,”

said the Sunderland boss, who has claimed only two victories since he was appointed on a full-time basis in December. “I would have booed myself off if I had been in that situation as a fan. We didn’t give the supporters enough. They pay good money and work extremely hard, and we didn’t give them enough back in return.”

Yesterday’s defeat did not affect the club’s league position, but Sbragia admits the Wearsiders cannot keep relying on other teams during the final three weeks of the season.

“We have to do it ourselves,”

he said. “The results went for us, and the Newcastle result went for us, so this was a golden chance to put a bit of daylight between ourselves and the teams around us.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t do that and that was the biggest disappointment.”