Leeds United defender Luke Ayling says fans had every right to boo the Whites after they slumped to a disappointing 4-1 defeat at fellow Premier League strugglers Bournemouth. The win all but assures the Cherries of top-flight football next season, moving nine points clear of the drop.
For Leeds, they remain just outside of the drop zone, but teams around them now have games in hand on them in the fight for survival. Speaking to LUTV Ayling said: "We've come down here with a chance to win the game and we play like that, it's just not good enough. We let in two sloppy goals in the first half and didn't give ourselves a chance.
"The fans travel all the way down here and they spend their money and we give that kind of performance, it's not good enough. The fans at the end booed us and they've got every right to."
Read more: Bournemouth vs Leeds United recap and reaction
Leeds were 2-0 down after just 24 minutes following a quick brace from Jefferson Lerma, with the Cherries not having to work hard for their goals. "No I don't feel like we slumped when the two goals went in," said Ayling, "It did take a bit out of us but we stayed in the game. In the last few weeks, teams have gone on to score a few straight after that.
"We managed to stay in it and get it back to 2-1 at half-time, then we're confident. The second half was just not good enough we didn't show anything to get back in the game.
"Of course, we're worried, but we're still where we are. We're fifth from bottom and we haven't slipped in there yet. We've got four games like every other team down there, we're fifth from bottom and we've stayed out of it for now.
"We know as a team we've got to find a result from somewhere. I think we have to find a way to bounce back, we can't just let the season peter out and go down."
Illan Meslier was again at fault for the second Bournemouth goal, having made a similar error in the defeat to Fulham last week.
"Look, he's a young lad who's still learning," said Ayling. "He's played many games but he's still only 23 and he's in a place where not too many people have played as many games as he has.
"He'll learn from it and I've got no doubt he'll go on to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world. This spell is a learning spell for him and we've got four big games coming up and he'll be needed in those games.
"Hopefully he can find his form."
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