Darragh MacAnthony claims Peterborough had their 'tummies tickled' by Portsmouth as he takes pop at side's current form

He added the visitors’ performance at Fratton Park was ‘as bad as it gets’.

And in a continuation of his damning assessment, MacAnthony told some of the club’s so-called ‘heavy hitters’ that they needed to ‘step up to the plate’.

The Blues moved above promotion-rivals Peterborough in the League One table thanks to a win that saw both Jack Whatmough and Tom Naylor net in front of 2,000 returning Pompey fans.

The result maintained Kenny Jackett’s proud 678-day record of not suffering consecutive league defeats, following a 1-0 reverse at the hands of Blackpool days earlier.

SEE ALSO: Southampton fan and Peterborough co-owner makes Pompey admission after Fratton Park defeat

Meanwhile, it kept the PO4 outfit hot on the heels of Hull and Lincoln, who currently occupy the top two positions in the table.

For The Posh, though, their defeat represented a fourth in five league outings, as Darren Ferguson’s side struggle for form.

Prior to their current slump, the London Road outfit registered seven wins out of eight in the division – a run that saw them sit top of the table.

However, the tide has since turned, and MacAnthony has demanded that the management team and players rectify the situation as quickly as possible – starting tonight against West Ham’s under-21s in the Papa John’s Trophy.

The Peterborough Telegraph report The Posh chairman as saying: ‘We have some big players at the club who are right out of form.

‘We recruited some heavy hitters in the summer and they need to show their mettle and step up to the plate. That’s not me being critical as they know this.

‘Saturday was as bad it gets. We were not good. We can’t just roll over and have our tummies tickled at a place like Portsmouth.

‘That’s not us and that’s not what we want to be.

‘The management staff and players have to work harder to put things right.

‘We can’t win the games we have this season and then play like we have recently.

‘We have to start winning and hopefully that will start tomorrow.’

Peterborough spent big on Jonson Clarke-Harris and Sammie Szmodics in the summer, with the latter opting for London Road ahead of a potential move to Fratton Park.

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