Darren Ferguson admits Peterborough did not deserve their point against Wycombe

Posted Sunday, October 22, 2023 by PA

Darren Ferguson was disappointed by the performance of his Peterborough players despite their unbeaten League One run stretching to seven games.

Ferguson was also unhappy with the failure of referee Andrew Kitchen give his side a late penalty after Peter Kioso was sent tumbling in the box – an incident which could have led to an undeserved victory.

Brandon Hanlan fired Wycombe ahead in the 35th minute before Posh roared back to lead at the break courtesy of a Joel Randall strike direct from a corner and a classy Ephron Mason-Clark finish.

But it was Wycombe celebrating when the latter found the net again just after the hour as Mason-Clark headed a Luke Leahy free-kick into his own net.

Ferguson admitted: “I feel it could be a good point as I don’t think we deserved one.

“I was very pleased to be ahead at half-time, but I still wasn’t convinced by our performance and you cannot start a half of football how we did in the second half.

“Wycombe could quite easily have scored three goals in the first 10 minutes after half-time before they did get level.

“We looked off it today, but we also have to give the opposition credit and Wycombe were very good.

“I don’t like criticising a referee when your team has a bad performance as it looks like sour grapes in some ways, but I think he has made a mistake as it looks a clear penalty. If he watches it back, he might hold his hands up.

“Getting that penalty would have given us a break if we had gone on to win, but we probably got one drawing the game anyway.”

Wycombe chief Matt Bloomfield was much happier with his side, saying: “My over-riding feeling is one of pride in the way we played against top opposition.

“We felt calm at half-time even though we were behind as we were the better team for 40 minutes of the first half.

“After the corner went in for Peterborough’s first goal, we became a little bit erratic and ended up conceding a second goal that we are really disappointed about.

“But we felt we would have a chance of taking something from the game if we could replicate the first-half performance again in the second half.

“We came out of the blocks really well and Dale Taylor had a chance within 30 seconds. It felt like that was the spurt we needed and I really enjoyed watching us today.

“We spoke at Charlton and Portsmouth about playing well and not getting anything out of those games but today we had the character and composure to deliver in the second half.”