Peterborough Sports boss delighted by the commitment of his players as he searches for his best starting line-up
Peterborough Sports manager Phil Brown admits he is still searching for his best starting XI, but he’s been delighted with the effort and commitment he’s seen from his players.
Brown is approaching two months in the job at PIMS Park and he’s managed to steer Sports out of the National League North relegation zone. They stayed 20th despite a 3-1 defeat at Macclesfield Town on Tuesday night, a result that interrupted a winning streak of two games.
Sports finished that game with nine men after red cards for defender Ashton Fox and striker Mark Jones, but both are available for a tough trip to Spennymoor on Saturday as red card suspensions at National League level don’t kick until seven days after the offence.
Sports wanted to appeal the Fox red card, but couldn’t as he was dismissed after picking up a second yellow card.
"It still irks me,” Brown told Peterborough Community Radio. “I didn’t even think it was a foul, but the referee told me it was because Foxy stopped a dangerous attack. Video footage shows he played the ball anyway and it bothers me a point can possibly be taken away by someone making a rash decision.
"But after Foxy was sent off we came close to climbing another mountain as we had at Southport when we won with 10 men. For the next five minutes Macclesfield hardly touched the ball and we were well in the game, but a third goal, after a foul on Luca Miller in my opinion, and the second red card killed us.
"We have planned and prepared for another tough away game though and we have won a couple of them. We will be positive and I want to see a quick game of football from us.
"As far as knowing my best team, it’s more difficult here as we are a part-time club so I don’t see the players every day, but what I do know is I have a team that goes at it hammer and tongs for 90 minutes, including players who come off the bench.
"We’ve been in every game we’ve played since I’ve been here, apart from the FA Cup game at Harborough. We’ve also bounced back well from tough defeats like losing to a last-minute goal against Buxton. The aim is to get quality and ‘legs’ together and when we get it right we can give anyone a game as we’ve proved.
"We need to stay out of the bottom four for now. That’s the ambition as when you are in the relegation zone it can have the effect of stifling creativity. It’s a quagmire down there, but once you’re away from it you can re-set your challenges.”
Veteran former Football League winger Mustapha Carayol will return to the Sports side after missing the Macclesfield defeat.