Joey Barton praises his side as Bristol Rovers win the battle of the strikers

Leading up to Saturday’s game, the strikers of both sides were the main topics of conversation for Grant McCann and Joey Barton- with both stating that they thought they had the best two in the league.

Although neither Jonson-Clarke-Harris, Jack Marriott, Aaron Collins nor Josh Coburn scored, it was Barton who had the last laugh as his side came out 1-0 winners.

Coburn particularly caught the eye and was the player brought down by Ronnie Edwards for his second half red card.

Barton reserved particular praise for the 19-year-old after the match.

He said: “I spoke to Jonno before the game. He said ‘are you saying I’m fat?’ so I had a bit of a chuckle with him. I just tell the truth and make observations on what I see and sometimes that gets people’s backs up but I absolutely believe in what I said.

If you watch the second half, you’ve got the boy Marriott- who scored two against Salford and was sold for £5m last time out- Jonno- who has scored lots of goals and been linked with everybody- but for me today, the best striker on the pitch by an absolute country mile was Josh Coburn.

For 19 years of age, playing with that level of maturity was sensational. The only thing missing was performance was a goal. On the other side of that, you’ve got Aaron and the work he does. I thought Aaron and Josh were superb today."

The win was the first for Rovers in five league matches and moves them up to 15th on 24 points, now ten points ahead of the relegation zone.

Barton added: “Even though they were down to ten, Peterborough launched a load of bodies forward and had nothing to lose so it was a very dangerous opponent.

“We’re a young team learning all the time and I think that will go some were to giving us a lot if confidence going into the second half of the season.”

“The last time Rovers Peterborough was when I got capped for England for the first and only time!