Newcastle United boss Steve McClaren insists his players must step up before it is too late following their 3-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.

The Magpies, 1.57 to be relegated this season, are now 19th in the Premier League table after 28 games.

Sunderland’s 1-1 draw away at Southampton moved them out of the bottom three, while Norwich’s disappointing result at Swansea sees them move to 18th.

McClaren’s side were booed off by their home supporters after their 16th defeat of the campaign.

An own-goal from Steven Taylor and strikes from Joshua King and Charlie Daniels gave the Cherries all three points and McClaren conceded that there were no positives to take from the display.

The former England boss has been linked with the sack on numerous occasions this season but the 54-year-old insists he will continue to fight – and that his players need to do the same.

McClaren told BBC Sport: “I fully believe in what we are doing. But if we keep playing like that we will go down.

“There is no flowering it up. Players need to step up and not enough are doing that. At the moment I can’t see any positives, but we need to stick together and fight.

“I’m a fighter and we’ve all got to fight. There’s no-one from outside the club that can solve it, it’s up to the players and the staff to do it.

“We will prepare to win the next game and put the characters in there who can handle this situation. Whatever happens they will be better players for going through this.”