Peterborough United boss didn’t recognise his side during the second-half of a drubbing at the hands of Middlesbrough

Boro cruised to a 4-0 win at the Weston Homes Stadium after taking a 1-0 lead into the interval. The defeat returned Posh to the bottom of the table. They are now eight points from safety with just seven matches remaining ahead of another tough home game against fourth-placed Luton Town on Tuesday (April 5, 7.45pm).

“There wasn’t a lot in the first-half,” McCann insisted. “Apart from a 10-15 minute spell when they scored their goal and came on strong. If anything we had the better chances and we looked a threat from set pieces. Jack Marriott had one shot kicked off the line and Sammie Szmodics might have scored.

“We should have defended their goal better, but we were well in the game at half-time.

“But the second-half was unrecognisable from what I’ve seen in the last four or five games. The early goal they scored didn’t help and good sides like Middlesbrough know how to punish you when you make mistakes. We gifted them three goals. They didn’t have to work hard for any of them, but we were also slow, lethargic and we had no conviction or energy.

“We are a work in progress and we will keep on working. We will keep fighting until it’s mathematically impossible to stay up. We will keep trying to implement our ideas.

“It was a proper learning curve today, but we can’t dwell on it. It was a massive kick in the teeth as it was a game we felt we could win, but we have to get over it quickly as we have to go again on Tuesday.”