QPR manager insists his side deserved the boos as he was ‘disappointed beyond belief’ at ‘bad day at the office’

Warburton’s side needed a win to take them back into the play-offs but they were well beaten by a Posh side that came from 1-0 down to win 3-1.

Boos rang out across the ground when he made a triple substitution following Jack Marriot’s excellent strike to put Posh 3-1 up.

Boos also rang out at the full time whistle as the London side fell to their fourth defeat in five games.

Warbuton said: “Those boos should hurt, they should hurt every single player and every staff member. I’m sure it does, but if it doesn’t then we are screwed.

“You can imagine the words I am going to use… anger, frustration, disappointment. The first half we get the goal, look in control and have two or three really good chances to finish it off.

“We give away an awful goal by one long ball and go in at 1-1 at half-time. In the second half we needed more energy, do a bit better, more intensity and quality, keep doing what we were doing.

“But I didn’t recognise us in the second half. I said to the players after it goes all the way down, every player, every staff member including me.

“Losing headers, losing tackles, they were cutting us open. We were slow, and gave away an awful penalty – you can’t explain that – and then allowed Marriott to cut inside on his favourite foot.

“In our pre-game analysis all those points were covered, so disappointed beyond belief. I can’t explain it. It’s not them and us, players and staff. We’re in it together, and we have had a bad afternoon.

“Look at the incidents in the second half, so loose. But I can’t just sit here and say ‘bad day at the office’. We had them at Barnsley and Millwall too.

“Today they were fighting for their lives for survival and we had to respect that. To get the early goal and then not get the job done is un acceptable.

“It isn’t like us. Andre Gray hits the post with a header, they go down the other end and score. Ilias drags one wide, we just needed a bit of quality to finish it.

“We can’t go quiet as a group, and we have to look at that and say that was so far below our best we must get back to basics quickly and not waste what is still a good opportunity.

“I have never seen that. I can’t say the word I want to say for what we need now, but you need it. Stand up, take responsibility and show some bravery shall we say.

“I saw some comments from Blackburn’s Tony Mowbray about a young team and dealing with being in the top six, and I knew exactly where he was coming from. It’s a different mindset.

“We can sit here as old, ugly, bald blokes and say ‘deal with it’, but they are young players, many in this situation for the first time. We looked nervous in the second half, and laboured.”