Steve Evans fuming after Peterborough beaten by Scunthorpe

Posted Wednesday, January 02, 2019 by PA

Steve Evans tore into his Peterborough players after they slipped out of the League One top six for the first time this season.

Evans’ side failed to manage a single shot on target when slumping 2-0 at the hands of strugglers Scunthorpe on New Year’s Day.

Lee Novak was gifted both goals by dreadful errors from Posh players, with the Iron now only kept in the relegation zone by goal difference.

Novak fired them ahead when pouncing on a poor Joe Ward pass after just five minutes and doubled the lead just before the hour with his 10th goal of the season after Louis Reed lost control in his own box.

Evans said: “The performance was poor and our commitment was lacking.

“A team simply cannot make the sort of individual errors we did and expect to win football matches.

“The first one was an uncharacteristic mistake from Joe, but the second goal is something you would see in a playground when six-year-olds are playing.

“I’ve said for a number of weeks that it’s obvious what we have got at the club is not good enough to put us in the top six.

“We’ve fallen out for the first time but where you are on the final Saturday of the season is all that is important.

“We’ll be involved in the top six for sure when we strengthen. The chairman and Barry (director of football, Fry) are working hard to bring some players in who will make us significantly better.

“And some people who came here to play in a promotion campaign have been found to be wanting so they will go.”

Scunthorpe boss Stuart McCall was considerably happier with a second successive victory for his side – on a day when they were only able to name five substitutes.

He said: “It’s brilliant to have picked up back-to-back wins and they are huge for our confidence.

“The two clean sheets are also very pleasing. We defended well when we needed to and we took the chances when they came our way.

“I had a sneaky feeling we could win the game if we were able to get the first goal and that’s how it turned out.

“Lee is a great team player and it’s great to see him getting the goals his work-rate deserve.

“We certainly won’t get carried away but I’m proud of the players and we have pulled a few more clubs back into the relegation battle when you look at the table.

“We had 10 players unavailable so we’re having to overcome some serious problems as well, but I’ve said all along that our effort and togetherness can’t be questioned.”