Grant McCann blasts his side's terrible run as he locks his Peterborough United players in for over an hour

McCann locked his Posh side in the dressing room for over an hour after the 2-1 defeat and did not emerge to speak to the media until just before 11pm.

While McCann remained tight-lipped about what exactly was discussed in that time, he did not hide his disappointment at his side’s terrible run of form.

Posh have now lost won just one of their last seven matches, including five defeats, and have slipped behind Barnsley to sixth in the table. Bolton also leapfrogged Posh with a 1-1 draw at home to Bristol Rovers. Posh could end the weekend as low as eighth is Portsmouth and Derby beat Wycombe and Sheffield Wednesday respectively.

Goals from Luca Connell and Adam Phillips, either side of a Jack Taylor header, were enough to give the Tykes the points.

McCann said: “What was said will stay between myself and the players.

"The reality is, we need to improve. We’ve been on a terrible run over the last six games, losing five of them. Three have been in the league, which is really frustrating for us. It was an opportunity for us to go four ahead of Barnsley tonight.

“There was nothing in the game until they went 2-1 up. It was two decent teams going hell for leather against each other. After that, we had nothing about us. We tried to change it a bit by putting two upfront but it didn’t work. We went too long, too quick, we looked panicked, rushed and forced. We went away from what we were trying to do and what we are good at.”

Posh were boosted by the return of Joe Ward after eight games out and brought Ronnie Edwards straight from suspension but the player that grabbed the attention most was young goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom after he allowed Phillip’s long-range effort to burst through his hands and into the net early in the second half.

McCann left to the defence of his keeper though.

He said: “Lucas is going to be a top keeper. He’ll know himself that he needs to save that. It's a routine save, he practices them every single day.

"Unfortunately tonight, it’s gone under his gloves. He’s been brilliant since he’s been here. It’s his first loan so he’s going to have little tiny dips at times but at the minute, we’re just really disappointed with the face we didn’t show our fans anything after we went 2-1 down.

“We switched to what we did at Shrewsbury last week. We were hoping for the same bounce as then, when we created 12 or 13 chances, but it didn’t happen. We were too flat at the top end of the pitch. There was nothing on for the midfielders and the fullbacks when they got the ball.

“We now need to get into some real work on the grass and in the meeting room to deliver the principles of what we’re about and how we want to play. At the minute, we are not showing enough consistency and we’re looking a bit lacklustre when we concede. The boys have fight but it’s almost like we become a bit too forceful and desperate and it ends up backfiring on us.”