Blankety-blank, blankety-blank.

Not the old Terry Wogan-hosted, played-for-laughs, gameshow from the Eighties, but the story of Sunderland’s back-to-back road trips to QPR and Preston.

Disappointing? Definitely.

Sunderland are a team in-form, and arrived at Loftus Road last weekend five points clear at the top of the Championship.

So to fail to win against a QPR side sitting next-to-bottom of the table, without a home win all season, and with the leakiest defence in the division on their home patch, felt like an opportunity missed.

More worryingly, the Black Cats created little going forward even before the hour mark when Jobe Bellingham was dismissed and the emphasis shifted to preserving a point.

Still, a point away from home and a clean sheet is never to be sniffed at - and certainly not when playing for a third of the game a man light.

At Preston, though, Sunderland had no such excuse.

Again they found themselves up against modest opposition, this time a Preston side 21st in the table and hovering only two points above the bottom three.

Yet Sunderland looked strangely disjointed at Deepdale, and Preston created by far the better chances and will feel they were the ones who were shortchanged by the scoreline.

As for Sunderland, another point, another clean sheet, but also another underwhelming performance.

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Of course, there is absolutely no reason to panic after two goalless draws.

Sunderland have extended their unbeaten run to seven games and remain top of the table, albeit with their lead trimmed to two points with Sheffield United capitalising on Leeds United’s midweek slip-up at Millwall to move into second-place.

But, if nothing else, Sunderland’s last two games have demonstrated that personnel changes - forced or otherwise - in key areas do have an effect.

Last week I sang the praises of Sunderland’s midfield three of Bellingham, Chris Rigg, and Dan Neil, but Regis Le Bris has been unable to field his first-choice trio since, and will be unable do so for the next couple of games at least.

Rigg was absent against QPR due to injury, and his energy and creativity were sorely missed.

Rigg returned at Preston, but Bellingham’s red card against the R's meant he sat out the trip to Deepdale as he began a three-game ban.

Le Bris likes to stick with a settled side where possible, but he is also conscious of the physical demands on his players and at Preston he opted to rotate his squad and take widemen Patrick Roberts and Romaine Mundle out of the starting line-up.

The reshuffle saw academy product Tommy Watson play on the right in his first start for the club, while leading scorer Wilson Isidor shifted out to the left, and new arrival Aaron Connolly made his first start up front.

Those changes did not really work, and there was a noticeable improvement after the hour mark when Roberts and Mundle replaced Watson and Connolly, and Isidor moved back into the central striker’s role.

Sunderland are back on home soil tomorrow when Coventry City, who sacked long-serving manager Mark Robins yesterday after a poor start to the season, are the visitors.

Bellingham’s absence is out of Le Bris’ hands, but I expect Roberts and Mundle to return to the starting XI to give the Black Cats more potency in the final third.

Sunderland had scored in every league game this season until these last two outings.

Not since the dismal final knockings of last season have they failed to score for three successive games.

The situation now could hardly be more different but, still, no-one wants to be reminded of those dark days.