Peterborough United chief wants his senior players to lead from the front for the rest of the season

​MacAnthony was disappointed with the efforts of some experienced players in the humbling 5-0 home defeat at the hands of Bolton last weekend, even though he described the game as ‘one of the most bizarre’ he’d ever seen.

The chairman made his comments on the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast which was recorded before Tuesday night’s 1-0 loss at Fleetwood which left Posh nine points off the play-off pace.

"I do hope those experienced players have held a team meeting,” MacAnthony said. “I hope they told the younger players ‘we haven’t been here much yet, but we will all be here now’.

"I praised some senior players when we won three in a row, but they were found wanting last weekend.

"They are well paid. They got good contracts of me and I hope in the final matches of the season they do their jobs and earn their money.

"They need to ask themselves where they are going from here? They are currently playing well below their own standards.

"The worst thing is they have proved they can succeed at this level. I watched them fight back from 3-0 down with 20 minutes to go against Lincoln to clinch promotion two seasons ago, but at 3-0 down against Bolton heads dropped.

"It was the most bizarre game I have ever seen though. It was never a 5-0 game.

"The match stats will tell you that, but their defenders put their bodies on the line, while we conceded poor goals from four yards out and everything they hit at goal seemed to go in, whereas every time we shot it went straight at a very good goalkeeper.

"It was a defensive horror show from three experienced defenders and we had the life sucked out of us in terms of confidence and momentum, but there is still a chance of success this season.

"It will need a run of seven wins in nine or eight wins in 10 because the top sides we are chasing just don’t lose many games, but we’ve done that before in this league with many of these players.”