That was the stark admission from Wayne Swales – one half of the club's team management duo along with father, Trevor – in the wake of a damaging 49-41 defeat at the hands of Elite League leaders Wolverhampton.

A second home defeat of the season, combined with an away victory for Lakeside at Ipswich, saw the city side slide out of the play-off zone.

And Swales warned his under-performing riders that club bosses expect much more than is currently being delivered.

Speaking after the third successive loss, Swales said: "As a team – and that means myself as well as the riders – we let the fans down. They have every right to be disappointed because this display was unacceptable.

"The riders have everything they could dream of wanting at this club and quite frankly we expect more of them as a team.

"The infrastructure is second to none and they need to go out as a unit and put on a show for the people who pay their money to come to our meetings.

"Winning only three out of 15 heats in a home meeting is clearly nowhere near good enough."

Mark Plummer's Panthers report and reaction: Panthers 41, Wolverhampton 49 - all too 'threesy' for league leaders