REACTION: Fleetwood boss insists his side were unlucky to lose to Posh: ‘We contained Clarke-Harris and Szmodics really well’

Promotion-chasing Posh sealed a vital three points thanks to an 89th free-kick strike from top scorer Jonson Clarke-Harris

Clarke-Harris had missed a great chance to score in the early stages at Highbury, but Fleetwood missed a sitter on the stroke of half-time and struck the crossbar through ex-Posh defender Danny Andrew midway through the second half.

Grayson told the Fleetwood media team: “We did a lot of good things today. We competed well against a really strong team who are at the top end of the division and for most of the game we kept them quiet. Then you look at our chances. We hit the bar and had a few close shaves of our own.

“We contained the likes of Sammie Szmodics and Jonson Clarke-Harris really well during the game. We’re just slightly disappointed that at the top end of the pitch we weren’t as ruthless as we can be. It wasn’t just our strikers. It was our final pass or our final shot.

“In the end, I am happy with how we played and our performance, but when you concede so late it is frustrating because we didn’t deserve to lose that game. A lot of the top-teams score late goals because we are at that desperation stage of the season.

“But I was pleased with the players’ attitude and application because we did everything apart from putting the ball in the back of the net. We have had three lads at the back there who like defending and put their bodies on the line and as a team we worked extremely hard.”

Fleetwood dropped to 16th place with this defeat. Posh remain second as their main rivals for automatic promotion, Hull and Sunderland, also claimed late winning goals.