Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson praised his players and said they should be very proud of themselves after battling against an awful referee and a team that hadn`t lost in the League.
Endeavour, Spirit and Commitment
It was an outstandingly battling performance not seen very often at Posh but it shows how much it means to Posh to get back to the Championship and how they`ve improved over the years.
Manager Darren Ferguson was obviously delighted with the way his side performed against all the odds to claim a magnificent 2-1 victory over the MK Dons.
“The players should be very proud of themselves,” Ferguson enthused. “They refused to beaten today no matter what was thrown at them and they deserved to win based on that reslience.
“The win was nothing to do with my tactics, it was everything to do with the endeavour, the spirit, the commitment and the sheer will to win of my players.
“MK Dons tried to make it a cup final, but we didn`t need to do that. We have been playing ‘must-win` matches for about 12 months now so in that respect it was just another game for us.
“Obviously the red card after seven minutes meant the gameplan went out of the window, but we responded to the sending-off better than they did. We had actually planned to play on the counter attack today anyway because I felt that was the best way to beat a team who are very good in possession so the fact we did well with 10 men didn`t surprise me.
“The goals were a real bonus and gave us that bit extra to hang on to, and the lads then defended brilliantly. They put their bodies on the line and Bobby Olejnik made some great saves when he had to.
“It was quite simply a fantastic effort. You could certainly describe it as heroic.
“The fans played their part as well which is why I went on the pitch at the end to thank them. Their support was superb throughout and they really lifted the team when we picked up the early red card.”
The performance by the official in the middle, Darren Drysdale, was very questionable. How such an incompetent referee was allowed to referee such a fierce, competitive fixture is beyond me and also to be so one-sided in favour of the visiting side is just a joke.
It isn`t the first time Drysdale has become a disliked figure at London Road either as he awarded a goal to Barnsley last season even though the visiting goalscorer was yards off-side and the assistant flagged him offside only to be over-ruled by Drysdale!
Fergie didn`t want to say anything about detrimental about the officiating as he quite rightly wanted to focus on the magnificent job his players did: “I don`t want to say anything about the referee as I don`t want to take any attention away from the efforts of my players, but it was unusual for a fiercely competitive derby to see one team pick up two red cards and four yellow cards and the other team to pick up no cards at all.
“Obviously it`s a problem to lose two players for the same three games, but we will just have to get on with it. That`s we have a big squad.”
Posh Tweets and Comments
Darragh MacAnthony – @DMAC102
“9 men, odds against us playing 14 men & some ballerinas but Posh show bottle, mental fortitude & serious character. Justice done!!!
“Gaffer rang me straight after game so he could kill some time & cool down before press. Thought his press interviews very calm lol!”
Gabriel Zakuani – @Gabs50Zakuani
“Thank you for the kind messages, I feel like everyone earned their wages today. Just got to keep it going, always good to win a ‘derby`”
Grant mccann - @grantmccann11
“What a win and character from the boys today, never easy with 9 men especially in there cup final 😃 on to the next one.”
Britt Assombalonga – @BrittOfficials
“What a shift we put in today 🙈🙌”
Kgosi Ntlhe - @Kgosintlhe
“The lads put a right shift today! The fans really drove us on today #Inspirational”
Danny Kearns – @DKearns91
“Wow what a game that was!! 😳 Bostwick MOM for me. Top defending. 💪”
Posh Fans Comments
Craig Lyons @mrcraiglyons
“@DMAC102 you love a stat. Posh committed 8 fouls today, 4 were yellow carded, 2 straight reds. MK had 11 fouls all unpunished. Bizarre”
Phil Adlam @philadlam
“Manager said it after, and I echo it, fans were absolutely magnificent today. really got behind the lads especially second half”
GNAT
“Think if fergie had said what he wanted to say about the ref he would be sitting in the stands for the rest of the season lol. 36 attempts on goal and Robinson still blames the ref for not helping them out enough ? Really ?”
Blue532
“Well Robinson got one thing right – Mr Drysdale the so called ref had a mare. But unbelievably in his post-match interview Robinson claimed that he should have given more decisions to Franchise disunited. Really Robinson? Just look at the cards and free kicks tally.
I can only hope that the inadequate (putting it politely) Mr Drysdale is banished to Sunday league football and Mr Robinson with his excuses, cheesy videos and bunch of divers and con artists go with him.
Fantastic display by the Posh- with that spirit and commitment we will be saying goodbye to League 1.”
IPUN
“Firstly, Fergie deserves total respect for not doing what I suspect most of us in his position would have done post match & slate that excuse of a ref. I fear for this nations security if he is an example of his RAF colleagues.
Any objective viewer of that game would have had to have asked themselves if in fact POSH were 4 yellows & two reds worse than MK Dons.
The first was a red for me. You cannot lift your hand anywhere near an opposition players face. That said, not long after that an MK player raised his hand at one of our lads in an altercation when the ball was dead. This to my mind shows more intent on his part than NKP, but what did Sgt Dyrsdale do?……..nothing.
Even when Britt was pushed over towards the end of the game, in his face, this guy gave nothing. Sgt Drysdale you are an absolute disgrace. The FA want us all to respect this kind of inconsistency but I suggest they give us officials a little more worthy of it.”
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UP THE POSH
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