This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Regular Punter’ series, where we gather original opinions from select, passionate fans of the clubs concerned on matters surrounding their team and share them with a wider audience…

Football League World's Sunderland fan pundit Charlie Hodgson has revealed he is "not confident at all" about the North East club's chances of promotion this season. 

The Black Cats' 1-0 loss to Gillingham in the FA Cup last night was the fifth loss in nine games under new boss Phil Parkinson.

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In that period, Sunderland have won just twice and have been knocked out of three cup competitions.

They remain within touching distance of the top six, two points back from and with a game in hand over sixth-place Rotherham United, but Hodgson has revealed that he is not confident they can seal promotion back to the Championship this season.

He explained: "To be honest, I’m not confident at all about our promotion chances. We are playing some of the worst football I’ve ever seen and I had a season ticket in the season under David Moyes.

"The system we seemed to have at the start of Parkinson’s tenure is gone. The players have no confidence and don’t seem to want to play under Parkinson, which is worrying considering he’s been here for a month or so."

Parkinson will be looking to get back to winning ways when his side face Coventry City at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

They then welcome Burton Albion to the North East next Wednesday before traveling to Priestland again to face Gillingham on Saturday the 7th of December.

Wins in those three League One games would be a huge boost for the Black Cats and could put them in a fantastic position heading into the festive period.