Peterborough United boss believes lenient refereeing could have led to a player being hurt as co-owner salutes his team for standing up to the Charlton bullies

Purkiss issued eight yellow cards during the 2-1 League One win over Charlton at the Weston Homes Stadium - four to each side including one to Ferguson - but was considered too lenient by the Posh boss.

“The referee set a precedent by allowing one player (Darren Pratley) 11 fouls before cautioning him in the 93rd minute,” Ferguson moaned.

“I approached him very calmly before we went out for the second-half and asked him why the player hadn’t been cautioned and he said he’d caution him for his next foul. Instead he committed four more fouls before he was shown a yellow card.

“The problem with refereeing like that is it allows a team to keep fouling.

“If the referee is honest with himself today he will admit he had a bad night. He was letting so much go I feared someone would get hurt. Mark Beevers was elbowed in the face at one point and he didn’t give a free kick.”

Meanwhile Posh co-owner Darragh MacAnthony saluted his players for standing up to the Charlton bullies.

MacAnthony said: “That’s twice now teams have tried to bully us at our place this season and failed.

“Fleetwood tried it and now Charlton have tried it and we came from behind to win on both occasions.

“Fair play to the players for standing up to it. They showed plenty of heart to get the job done.”