Peterborough United assistant manager frustrated as naivety leads to late squandering of 'deserved' victory

Posh were denied in cruel circumstances with one of the final kicks of the game as Jordan Gibson’s weak effort from range took a wicked deflection off the knee of Peter Kioso and ended up in the bottom left corner to hand the hosts a fortunate 1-1 League One draw.

Posh had looked the stronger of the sides for large periods and led through Ronnie Edwards’ first career goal with 20 minutes to play, but were unable to hold on in the closing stages.

The result came exactly a week after Darren Ferguson labelled his side as “bottlers” after giving away a winning position against League Two Mansfield in the closing stages of their EFL Cup tie.

The result moved Posh down a place in the table to sixth.

After the match, assistant manager Kieran Scarff spoke of his frustration.

Scarff said: “It’s frustrating. There’s no doubt about it. It’s a game we should have won and deserved to win.

“There are lots of things we’re really happy about in our performance. Through the game, we got into so many good positions in the final third and had chances. We showed a real discipline for large spells. There were small spells where we lost a bit of it in possession but generally, it was really good.

“It’s a bit of naivety at the end and a bit of bad luck with the deflection. You can’t not be frustrated.

“We started the game really well. Our speed of play was really good and we created good chances. We should have put ourselves ahead earlier in the game.

“It’s rare to dominate a game in the way we did in the first half, for 90 minutes, especially away from home. They made it difficult for us by defending deep, It’s not easy to break down and takes a lot of discipline and belief for a young side and we did that.

“To be fair to Carlisle, they were perhaps a bit more aggressive in their intent and we’ll have a look at that, but the substitutions came on and gave us energy and impetus. We’ve got a good squad full of energy and it’s good to see that having an impact.

“The delivery for the first goal was outstanding and so was the timing of Ronnie’s movement.

"That was a reward for the level of detailed work that is going into the set-pieces. We’ve defended them really well and Tongey (Dale Tonge) has put a lot of work into attacking set-pieces. We look a threat every single week.

“The support from the fans (296 travelled) was unbelievable. Driving four or four and a half hours on a Tuesday is outstanding support and it’s just so disappointing that we couldn’t send them home with three points. A big thank you to every single one of them.”

Posh return to the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday to face Lincoln. The Imps saw their game away at Leyton Orient paused in the 84th minute and later abandoned due to a medical incident in the crowd.

Leyton Orient were leading 1-0 at the time.