NEIL Lennon had the guts to apologise for his part in this dismal defeat – I only hope some of his players have the good grace to do the same to him.

Within a few minutes of the final whistle at the Riverside the Whites boss strode out to the press, held up his hands that his starting formation was the wrong one, and pledged not to make similar mistakes in the future.

It isn’t often you see that happen with a manager, particularly at Bolton, but it was an important statement to make regardless of how badly he was let down by his team on the day.

Back in the sanctity of the dressing room, Lennon had every right to go bananas.

While using a back three played right into Middlesbrough’s hands it did not excuse some of the weakest individual performances in a Wanderers team in recent memory.

The Madejski Massacre at Reading, the god awful FA Cup semi-final against Stoke City, the first half display ranks right up there with horror shows that will forever be etched in the history books.

It did improve in the second half but more because Middlesbrough lost their ruthlessness completely than any great sea change in effort and commitment on Wanderers’ part.

Regardless of formation, the sheer number of times players were caught napping in possession, lost out in tackles or lumped a ball forward for the thankless Emile Heskey beggared belief.

It was inevitable that Heskey would step forward to answer questions from the media after the game.

Battered and bloodied, the 38-year-old had spent 90 unrewarding minutes chasing down defenders with little support.

He described the first half as a “train-wreck” but more pertinently, had issue with the lack of leadership on the field.

“You can’t be up and down as we are, playing the football we are one week and then looking like we don’t know each other the next,” he said.

It is the lack of responsibility on the pitch that most concerns me, not the fact Wanderers were beaten by a very good side in Boro.

Mark Davies wore the captain’s armband but went missing, Jay Spearing could do very little right with the ball until he was substituted at half time, and Neil Danns had what I consider his worst game in a Bolton shirt. Three players Lennon needs to be driving the team on just did not show up.

Diego Fabbrini was the chief tormentor for Boro, sitting just off the front man Kike, the Italian looked a class act. But he was allowed the freedom of Teesside by a Wanderers midfield that didn’t get close to him all day.

Against Derby the previous week the Whites had scrapped for everything. Paul Clement knew his team had been given a physical battering and the signs were good.

This performance was just about as far removed as you could get.

There are some mitigating circumstances with where the club find themselves right now financially, and the lack of depth in the squad meant Lennon could not cope with the late withdrawal of Gary Madine and Zach Clough, forcing him to try and experimental and ultimately disastrous 3-5-2 formation from the off.

But it does not excuse the basics of attitude and effort, and had they been more prevalent then the defeat would not have hurt so badly.

Right from the off you could tell something was up. Stewart Downing, on his return to the Riverside after six years, cut in past Josh Vela to bring an early save out of Ben Amos.

Moments later, Fabbrini skipped into acres of space to smash a shot from 25 yards and this time, there was nothing the Wanderers keeper could do about it.

At this point, the message should have gone out to get closer to the Italian, and not necessarily from the bench.

But it wasn’t long before he inflicted yet more damage, turning Davies with ease about 30 yards out and then slipping the ball through for Kike to slide a shot into the net.

By the half hour mark it was getting embarrassing. Boro played some neat football on the edge of the box, ending with a shot from Fabbrini that looped off Prince and was clawed off the line by Amos on to the underside of the bar. Unfortunately for the Whites keeper, no-one had tracked Kike, who then had the simple task of nodding the ball over the line for the third.

At this point, some of the 524 travelling fans decided they had seen enough and filed for the exit. A few of the Wanderers players would probably have done the same given half a chance.

Albert Adomah continued to race past Dean Moxey at will, while on the right side, Josh Vela was visibly looking for direction, seemingly unsure what position he was being asked to play.

Lennon moved things around shortly before the break and then brought Clough on for Spearing at half time. That stemmed the tide – but they were aided in the fact Boro began to over-play around the penalty box.

David Nugent nearly capped his debut with a goal towards the end, clipping Downing’s excellent cross over the bar. The England man was offering the kind of service from the wing that Wanderers’ strikers can only dream of right now.

Clough created a few half-chances with his direct running in the second half but nothing that was going to get his side back into the game.

The youngster, along with Heskey and Amos, could at least walk off the pitch knowing they’d done what they could.

Lennon admitted his errors and must surely now abandon plans to play three at the back until he has got the full-backs and the front men to cope.

We can only hope that this proves to be an isolated performance and that there is some sort of response at MK Dons on Tuesday night.

It is too early in the season to start making assumptions about where Wanderers will finish – but many more tepid performances like this, and I could hazard a guess.