SUPPORT for Leeds United boss Brian McDermott on the terraces is ebbing away after Saturday’s embarrassing 5-1 Championship home defeat against Bolton Wanderers.

It was the heaviest home defeat of his Leeds tenure, but the Elland Road boss deflected questioning about his future.

He said: “It is pointless thinking about my own position. All I can do is get everyone together, train on Sunday and Monday and put a team out (against Reading) on Tuesday. That is what I want to do.”

It was United’s first home game since McDermott thought he had been sacked by potential owner Massimo Cellino on February 1, only to be quickly reinstated.

On that day United beat Huddersfield 5-1 and since then had looked relatively solid in four successive away games.

The manager said: “It is a bad day for us. We’ve had a couple like that, it’s not acceptable and we have to analyse the reasons.”

Free-falling Leeds have won only twice in their last 13 Championship games and exited the FA Cup at the hands of League Two outfit Rochdale – a record which leaves McDermott on increasingly unstable ground.

There was little in Saturday’s game until a minute before half-time when Bolton broke smartly, the Leeds defence parted and Joe Mason fired past the exposed Jack Butland.

After the break, two set pieces brought goals for Lukas Jutkiewicz and Zat Knight as the visitors stormed into a 3-0 lead.

Worse was to come as Leeds lost all shape and spirit with Mark Davies heading in the fourth and substitute Andre Moritz completing the embarrassment on 89 minutes.

By the time Leeds replacement Matt Smith headed a stoppage time consolation, Elland Road was about half empty.

McDermott now badly needs a victory against his old club Reading tomorrow to regain some of his popularity.