Assistant will keep demanding players drive improvement

Posh assistant manager Cliff Byrne has told his squad that he will keep demanding they drive improvement within themselves as Posh look to pull off a miraculous escape.

Byrne arrived alongside McCann in February and has said that he has been pleased with the improved performance levels, that have seen Posh pick up five points from their past four games.

Prior to McCann and Byrne’s arrival, Posh had only picked up two points in their previous nine league games.

Posh’s improved run, which they added to with an impressive victory at QPR last time out, will be severely tested in the coming week with home games against two of the division’s promotion chasers, managed by two of the division’s most highly rated bosses, Chris Wilder and Nathan Jones.

Byrne has praised the squad’s determination though and has challenged the players to keep their recent run going.

He said: “What we’ve seen from the boys over the last five of six weeks is a real drive and determination to buy into how we want to play and what we are demanding on the training ground.

“Hopefully they are enjoying it, recent results and performances suggest that they are, and we’ve got to keep performing to get those results.

“We have to keep driving the improvement, we as a coaching staff have got to lead that but then we have to hand the baton over to the players.

“They have to drive it on the pitch because we can’t be there every second of the game.

“We are seeing really good returns over the last three of four games. The performances have been strong and when the performances are strong, invariably you pick points up and that’s a credit to the boys for what they are doing on the pitch and what they are doing Monday to Friday.

“We have to keep pushing those limits, keep driving those demands as much as we can and the players need to reciprocate that.

“We’ve had a really strong week of training during the international break and we’re now looking to build on the performances that have gone before.

“The biggest thing I always try to deliver is open honesty. I’m quite demanding, I expect good standards and try to drive them on and off the pitch but more importantly we want to improve people and help them get to the levels they believe they can play at.”

McCann’s coaching team has been further boosted by the arrival of Dale Tonge in recent weeks, something Byrne has welcomed.

He added: “Dale has added a fresh dynamic to the group. Myself and the gaffer haven’t worked with him before, which the gaffer felt was important to give us a different lens and fresh ideas.

“He has a lot of good characteristics that we noticed from afar facing him at Barnsley and he’s certainly delivered on them in the few weeks he’s been in the building.”

“We have seen really good returns in the last three or four matches”

Grant McCann and his assistant Cliff Byrne on the touchline against Queens Park Rangers. Photo: Joe Dent.