Peterborough Sports' boss furious with 'disgraceful' and 'disrespectful' comments by King's Lynn Town manager

Sports won a National League North game at their bigger, better-supported neighbours 2-1 at The Walks on Bank Holiday Monday thanks to two goals from Dan Jarvis.

Sports report

And the win – a second in a row in the A47 derby for Sports – prompted some provocative comments from Lakeland who accused the city side of excessive time-wasting and of celebrating without class. He also claimed Sports’ main objectives for the season were to ‘beat Lynn and to stay up.’

The post-match interview incensed Gash, a KIng’s Lynn playing legend, who hailed his team for a solid, disciplined display with more than enough quality to have deserved to claim a second win of the weekend.

"I got home after a great performance and result to be told by my parents what their manager had said,” Gash stated. “The players’ WhatsApp had been buzzing with chat about it as well and I felt the comments were disrespectful and disgraceful. He said we didn’t show a lot of class after the game, but we did what they probably do after winning and that’s going to our fans to thank them for their support and then playing a bit of music in the dressing room.

"I’d love to know what he meant by ‘a lack of class.’ I was delighted with the way we played. We were the better team and we were comfortable until they pulled a goal back towards the end and started throwing a lot of men forward. It was a really solid, disciplined display, but we also showed real moments of quality.

"I know they will be disappointed losing to us again, but if you miss chances and concede goals you will lose. It happened to us in the first two games of the season, but we didn’t moan about the teams who beat us. I would never disrespect another club and certainly not King’s Lynn after all the success we had together. There were a few boos from the crowd aimed at me, but I took it as banter. After the game I was asked to come out of the dressing room to meet some young Lynn fans and I signed some stuff and had some photos taken.

"It’s disrespectful to suggest we are only interested in beating King’s Lynn and staying up. We want to win every game and finish as high as we can. It was a great win for us as it was a big derby for the fans and because we beat a big club for our level, but we fight hard and try and win every game.

"We’ve had a great seven days with a draw at Hereford and two Bank Holiday wins and the players deserve a lot of praise for that. They will certainly get it from me and (joint manager) Luke Steele.”

Lakeland was interviewed pitchside by his local media. He said: “Fair play to them as they did a job on us. Conceding a poor early goal was costly as they can be very difficult to play against as they are big and well organised and they can control the tempo of the game. Every time one of them could go down and stay down he did, the goalkeeper was taking an eternity to release the ball and every throw-in was taking an eternity. We wanted to play at a fast tempo and we needed a referee capable of speeding the game up. We didn’t get that and five minutes added time bamboozled me as we’d eight substitutions as well as all the slow play. They sucked the life out of the game.

"With another few minutes we might have conjured up another chance and got a draw which would have been the least we deserved. Fair play to them they won their biggest game of the season as beating us and staying up are probably their objectives this season, but sometimes when you win games you can show a bit of class.”

Lakeland also criticised the Bank Holiday fixture schedule for both clubs. Lynn ‘s away game over the weekend was a long trek up North. Lynn are a full-time club.