Peterborough Sports boss Phil Brown salutes one of the greatest wins of his long career
Former Premier League manager Phil Brown has ranked a 3-2 win for Peterborough Sports at Southport in a National League North fixture on Tuesday night as one of the greatest results of his career.
Brown, who managed Hull City in the top flight, and has had spells in charge of the likes of Derby County and Preston North End, saw his side recover from 2-1 down in a huge basement battle despite playing with 10 men for the final 35 minutes.
Goals in the 83rd and 96th minutes from substitute Luca Miller and Sam Straughan-Brown respectively delivered the win that moved Sports up three places and within two points of a place in the safety zone.
Brown praised the desire and spirit of the team, and lauded the impact of Miller who scored within two minutes of going onto the pitch.
"It’s absolutely up there with the best wins of my career, as a player, coach or manager,” Brown insisted in a post-match interview with Peterborough Community Radio. “The players showed lots of bottle and a great sense of pride in their club. The team spirit enabled us to stay in the game, and then to finish as the stronger side, after the subs we used made a tremendous difference.
"Luca has been banging on my door regularly saying he should play. We had a plan going forward for him, but he showed he’s a player without a shadow of a doubt. He appeared to galvanise the whole team when he went on and the composure he showed to score was from a different level. The subs definitely changed the course of the game. Everyone went up a notch when Luca came on.
"We showed what can happen when you are determined enough to stay in a game when things have gone against you. We made sure we put the ball in the right areas and we reaped the rewards.
"I was delighted for Sam to score the winner. He deserved that as he played in three different positions in the game. We have a good bunch here who want to play for their club. Our captain Dan Jarvis put his head into a crowd to clear a ball in our six yard box and we swept straight upfield and won a corner at the other end. That’s the sort of spirit we need. We have shown we won’t lie down for anyone.
"We leapfrogged some teams by winning and now we need to build on the result on Saturday.”
Sports host a physically powerful Chorley team at PIMS Park on Saturday (3pm) before heading to Macclesfield Town next Tuesday (November 4),
Central defender Richard Faayke tweaked a hamstring early in last night’s game so is unlikely to feature against Chorley. Another centre-back Charlie Hickingbottom is out for 4-6 weeks, also with a hamstring injury so Brown will step up his efforts to sign an experienced defender, although Ryan Fryatt could be back at the weekend.