Grant McCann angry with late collapse despite win for Peterborough

Posted Sunday, October 02, 2022 by PA

Peterborough boss Grant McCann was furious after his side survived a late scare to win 3-2 at MK Dons.

Posh picked up just their second away win of the League One season and for the vast majority of the game it looked like a foregone conclusion, with the visitors leading 3-0 going into the 90th minute.

Jonson Clarke-Harris netted inside three minutes to take his tally to eight in 10 games, before Kwame Poku got his first goal for the club and Ricky-Jade Jones made it three early in the second half.

But strikes in quick succession from Daniel Harvie and Matt Smith set up a very nervy finale, which sparked the ire of McCann.

“I’m so disappointed,” he said. “Honestly, I know we won today but I told the boys that’s unacceptable, what we showed there in the last three, four minutes of the game.

“The game’s dead. It’s over and for whatever reason we just switch off and let a runner go and then panic.

“We have conceded a couple of late goals away from home, at Bolton and Derby, so maybe a bit of fear slips into the group.

“It would’ve been an absolute catastrophe if they’d nicked an equaliser today. That’s how much we were in control of the game.

“It should never have come to that. They boys know that in there. They’re disappointed and they’ve just took three points away from home and scored three goals.”

Aside from the final four minutes, it was a dominant performance from Peterborough, who lifted themselves into seventh with the win.

MK Dons, meanwhile, slipped to 20th and manager Liam Manning was just as displeased with his team’s display.

“It’s just a frustrating one today,” said Manning. “There were too many unforced errors all over the pitch but also there’s a conviction element.

“Ultimately it comes back down to the bit at either end. Too often we played into traps and played into areas where they wanted us to go which just shifts the momentum in their favour.

“When you’re up against it and when you’re having a tough time, there’s nothing wrong with sometimes relieving pressure by going over it and moving up the pitch. We didn’t do that enough today.”

Looking ahead to the trip to Shrewsbury next Saturday, Manning called for the players to remain unified.

“I think the players have to lift themselves and believe in themselves and we have to lift them as well,” he said.

“It’s on all of us to take responsibility. It’s not them and us, it’s a collective. We have to stick together.

“The biggest thing is the players having real conviction. We have to make sure that we really drive that and we’ll definitely be doing that this week.”