Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock countered the Peterborough United penalty claim and praised his patched-up side for winning despite a cripping injury list

He stopped short of disputing the Posh opinion that his goalkeeper Joe Lumley had floored Siriki Dembele with the game goalless 10 minutes into the second half, but he had a counter-claim up his sleeve.

“Don’t talk to me about their penalty,” Warnock started. “We should have had a penalty in the first-half and their player (Ronnie Edwards) should have had a red card. It was as clear as day.”

Warnock was in a defiant mood, but he was also thrilled with his makeshift side’s 2-0 win secured by a late, undisputed penalty and a 94th minute strike.

Warnock had one fit natural defender in his line-up in 36 year-old Sol Bamba wo was flanked at centre-back by two midfielders. Two forwards played as wing-backs and yet Posh failed to test Lumley in 95 minutes despite seeing much more of the ball.

“I can’t faulted them, every one of them,” Warnock enthused. “They all know they’re playing out of position, but we had nothing else. I just asked them to try to enjoy the challenge and the battle, and if they made mistakes, not to dwell on them.

“In the first half, we just had an extra touch and tried an extra pass, where we should have just relaxed a bit, but I thought we created some great chances in the second half. There were some great crosses across the box, and I thought there were some really good performances.

“We haven’t been able to work on anything. Marc Bola didn’t pull out until Thursday, so we’ve not worked on anything in the two weeks regarding Peterborough because we haven’t been able to.

“I’ve never known anything like it really. It was Thursday night, and I didn’t have a clue what my team was going to be.

“If we’d have been beaten today I don’t think you could have complained about the effort. The effort was there. The squad is decimated and that does make it difficult, but that’s life.”

Middlesbrough host third-from-bottom Barnsley on Wednesday (October 20), when Posh travel to fourth from bottom Hull City.