I feel very sorry for the fans

“I spoke to them before the game and said that I wanted them to go out with their heads held high, their shoulders back and to play with a bit of pride and they did just that. I didn't realise that we had so many academy and ex-academy players out there on the pitch and that hopefully bodes well for us for the future. If the lads have learned from that experience, it is all good.

“If whoever comes in as manager can add a few players to that, at least we know that these lads can come into the team and do a good job. There's a bit of a way to go yet.”

If McLeary was happy then Steve Cotterill most certainly wasn't after a dreadful display from his team and had some strong words for his players. “I was looking for a performance and I got nothing,” he said. “It took us seven hours to get here on Friday and by the look of us it was going to take seven hours to get going.

“We were poor today. We've been on a great run but it didn't look that way. We were poor in midfield, their full backs had too much time on the ball, we just didn't go and play.

"The players have got two player of the year awards nights this week and they will be embarrassed to walk in after that. I feel very sorry for the fans who had to get up early to come down here and watch it."