POSH REACTION: Poor decision-making and 'stupid' sending off frustrate McCann

Poor decision making at both ends of the pitch frustrated Posh boss Grant McCann.
Tom Nichols of Peterborough United scores the equalising goal - Mandatory by-line: Peterborough United Football Club Ltd / PaperPix- 2016 - 16/17 - FOOTBALL - Kassam Stadium - Oxford, Oxfordshire - Oxford United v Peterborough UnitedTom Nichols of Peterborough United scores the equalising goal - Mandatory by-line: Peterborough United Football Club Ltd / PaperPix- 2016 - 16/17 - FOOTBALL - Kassam Stadium - Oxford, Oxfordshire - Oxford United v Peterborough United
Tom Nichols of Peterborough United scores the equalising goal - Mandatory by-line: Peterborough United Football Club Ltd / PaperPix- 2016 - 16/17 - FOOTBALL - Kassam Stadium - Oxford, Oxfordshire - Oxford United v Peterborough United

A stoppage time Chris Maguire penalty sealed a 2-1 win for Oxford against Posh this afternoon (Saturday, August 20) after the forward had been brought down by Jack Baldwin.

Baldwin subsequently received a second yellow card and some harsh words from his manager about his positioning.

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Tom Nichols had earlier cancelled out Wes Thomas’ opener for the hosts 15 seconds into the second-half.

McCann said: “I’m frustrated with the two goals to be honest. Straight from the kick-off they score. We wanted to start bright.

“Credit to the boys to come back into it. Good finish from Tom, good movement from Tails. And then the goal at the end. I say to the boys all the time about playing straight balls, especially centre-halves.

“And the straight ball we get done from, a counter attack, the distances between the centre halves are not right and they get in on us. Hugely disappointing.

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“You give yourself that risk if you are not close enough to your centre half, and Jack will hold his hand up when he sees it back. He’s a good 15 yards away from Bostwick. He should be round, he should be tighter.

“His bookings have all come from mistakes of ours. It’s someone losing the ball in the wrong area. I remember back from the last game where he got booked. Marcus [Maddison] went to pass the ball to Paul Taylor, it was cut out. The ball’s put in behind us and Jack gets booked.

“They are just silly bookings and the sending off is stupid today. He’s not close enough to Bozzy and ultimately we got punished.”

McCann felt his side had plenty of chances to score but could not put Oxford away.

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He added: “I thought we were excellent second-half. We created a lot of opportunities, we got in positions, our final ball wasn’t there, decision making wasn’t there. But when we did make a good decision in their half we scored from it.

“We got in some great areas and we didn’t pick the right pass. But it’s something we can work on. We can’t keep turning it on like a water tap - one week your decision making’s right, next week it’s not. Today it wasn’t.

“You can see we are an attacking team. Yes we are going to concede goals. I’m disappointed with the ones we conceded today as they are just individual errors for me. Teams aren’t cutting us open and scoring goals against us.

“We’re giving teams goals but there’s so much for us to work on going forward.”

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McCann also felt Posh had scored when Josh Ruffels miscued a Jermaine Anderson cross towards his own goal, only for Oxford ‘keeper Simon Eastwood to claw it away on the line.

“I thought it was in but I’ll need to see it back,” said the Northern Irishman.

But despite the disappointing result, a fourth goal of the season for Nichols pleased the Posh manager.

“Tom gets a chance he scores. You’ve seen that today,” he added.

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