FRUSTRATED Danny Hollands apologised to Cherries’ travel-weary supporters after turning on them following the final whistle at Accrington Stanley.

Midfielder Hollands, a second-half substitute during Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at the Crown Ground, had to be restrained by stewards after reacting to chants of ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’ from a section of the supporters.

Jimmy Quinn’s men were put to the sword during a chaotic opening 20 minutes in Lancashire, with goals from Stanley skipper Paul Mullin, Terry Gornell and a stunning drive from Rostyn Griffiths ending the encounter as a contest before half-time.

And with many fed up visiting fans walking out long before the final whistle had sounded, Hollands’s uncharacteristic reaction would have done little to steady the nose-diving belief of the Dean Court faithful.

A clearly upset Hollands told the Echo: “I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did, but I was annoyed with the result. It was a chance to get on level terms and we’re disappointed with ourselves.

“It just got a bit over-heated and if I have said anything I shouldn’t have to the fans, I’d like to apologise.

“We know we’ve played badly and if they want to shout abuse they have that right because they have paid good money to come and watch us.

“But if anyone has a bad day at work they are annoyed and I think a few of the lads have got a bit hot-headed because the fans were in their faces. You want them to support you, but we came off the pitch and reacted to it and we shouldn’t have done that.”

With only the guile of Sammy Igoe and some deft touches from new loan signing Michael Symes to show for their efforts, Quinn’s men have now slipped 12 points behind fellow strugglers Grimsby, who they visit in a crucial League Two clash on Friday evening.

Hollands added: “We’ve let ourselves down massively and we know that. The manager knows we can perform better and the fans know we can. The manager had a few things to say and we’ve taken them on board.

“We’ll go again next week, train hard and hopefully on Friday we can put on a good display and make ourselves look a lot better than we did today.

“It’s a massive game at Grimsby now. We need the three points and we have to be positive. Hopefully the fans will come and support us again and we can make them proud.”

Boss Quinn said: “They haven’t got any right to have a go at the fans because of the way we played. I’m not saying people didn’t go out and put in the effort but when you get stick off the fans after losing 3-0, you’ve got to stand up tall and take it.

“The players have got to take that and they’ve got no right to get involved. I will find out what happened because I’m not happy about that.

“I would be disappointed if people were having a go at the fans because they have got every right to shout whatever they want. If the worst thing people do is throw names and shout at you, you’re lucky. That probably tells you a little bit about the character. We need to toughen up as a group.”