FUMING Phil Parkinson felt the Valley Parade crowd were right to boo City off after a shoddy home defeat against Gillingham.

The Bantams' poor start continued as they threw away a half-time lead once more. James Hanson scored an early opener but the Kent side hit back after the break to win 2-1.

Luke Norris equalised within seven minutes of the restart – the fourth time that has happened to Parkinson’s side in as many games – before Hanson nodded into his own net from a corner.

The home fans let rip at the final whistle and Parkinson admitted their anger was fully justified.

He said: “I’ve had plenty of plaudits from this club over the years but I’ll fully accept getting stick because we have got to be better.

“The fans have been absolutely terrific for me ever since I’ve been at the club but we tested their patience. I’ve got to be honest about that.

“You can’t expect them to stay behind a team that has had a soft centre like we did. That’s not good enough.

“There are no excuses from me at all. I take the responsibility for a very poor second half.

“We got ourselves ahead again but we’re too easy to score against at the moment. Our mentality isn’t strong enough.”

City, who are bottom of League One, also face up to three months without Billy Clarke as the severity of his knee injury was confirmed.

“It’s a huge blow for us,” said Parkinson. “Billy is a player of quality and we lacked that.”

Chris Routis also joined the casualty list with a hamstring problem that forced him out of the action before half-time.

Parkinson added: “We didn’t play with enough quality on the ball when things went against us and we’ve got enough experience in the team to do that.

“Our decision-making and execution of the pass wasn’t good enough and it proved costly.

“Ben (Williams) hasn’t had to pull off any terrific saves and there haven’t been any glaring misses from them. But we’ve conceded two goals – and that’s not good enough.”

Asked about a growing phobia of losing interval advantages, the City boss said: “It does look like that. For that pattern to emerge so early in the season has got to be a confidence thing.

“It’s not fitness. We’re a fit team, we’ve always been a fit team but mentally we need to be tougher.

“We need to manage the game better in certain areas because in the second half I didn’t like what I saw.

“I’m not sure about the morale (being low) of the team who were starting or the lads who didn’t play. We always explain decisions to every player who isn’t in and I’ve always got to pick the team I think is right for each game.

“At times I’ve got it right and taken the praise but I’ve got to take the flak for this game and I’ll take it firmly on the chin.”