Maher keen to stay on as Bristol Rovers interim boss after Peterborough draw

Kevin Maher insisted he is happy to remain in interim charge for as long as needed at Bristol Rovers after a goalless draw with Peterborough.

The first-team coach admitted it had been a “tough week” following the departures of boss Graham Coughlan and then assistant manager Joe Dunne to Mansfield.

But Maher heaped praise on the players for overcoming the shock exits to extend their unbeaten run to 12 games against their fellow promotion contenders.

A game of few chances saw Rovers goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola make a brilliant second-half save to keep out Mo Eisa.

But the hosts nearly grabbed all three points late on when Ollie Clarke’s low drive from inside the box brought an equally good stop from Christy Pym.

Maher said: “I will happily do the job for as long as the club want me to.

“It has been a strange week and the players have handled themselves magnificently. To win at Plymouth in the FA Cup and then take a deserved point today is a tremendous effort in the circumstances.

“Usually when a manager departs it is because of poor results. But things have been going really well for us and I wanted to concentrate on continuity.

“I have no idea what happens next. Maybe this result has bought the board a bit of time when it comes to appointing a new manager.

“All I can say is that I really enjoyed the experience and will be happy to continue for as long as necessary. I don’t even know yet if that will be for the Boxing Day game against Wimbledon.

“I will report for work on Monday, along with the coaches who helped me today, and we will continue to work as professionally as possible.”

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson was thrilled with the contribution of 17-year-old substitute Ricky Jade-Jones, who wreaked havoc in the closing 20 minutes.

“Ricky is the quickest player I have ever worked with,” said Ferguson. “We know what we have and the biggest problem could be holding onto him.

“I thought he changed the dynamic of the game. We created the better chances, but I wasn’t happy with our set-pieces or final ball into the box.

“This is always a tough place to visit and if we can maintain our home form it will look a good point.

“Rovers are where they are in the table for a reason and I didn’t even mention them losing their manager to my players because I knew it would make no difference in the short term.

“They had a spell on top in the second half and Christy Pym has made a great save when we looked in trouble at the end.

“But we had a goal disallowed for a borderline offside decision and their keeper has also done well.”