Steve Evans rants at 'incompetent' referee after no red card for 'horrendous' challenge on Peterborough United's Marcus Maddison

McConville scored the only goal of the game after just 11 minutes but was surprisingly only shown a yellow card for a terrible challenge on Marcus Maddison.

That decision enraged Evans who also felt another winger, Siriki Dembele, was not afforded enough protection. And he felt his side should have taken something from the game after in-form striker Matt Godden missed late on from a superb Maddison cross.

He said: "Accrington were the better side for 20-25 minutes. They get a bit of fortune then they get the goal. We then created some problems for them before half-time.

"We spoke about being more on the front foot in the second-half and trying to pass it more and be more creative and get it wider and get more balls in the box. We certainly did, but you can't miss Matty's chance and two or three others where we've had good opportunities.

"You know they're going to defend very resolutely, it's what they're about. They can nick a goal then put bodies on the line, and they do it very well.

"Another factor today is we've had an incompetent referee. (The McConville challenge) was just horrendous. It's absolutely horrendous. He's a very talented player boy - he doesn't need to do that.

"The challenges on Dembele were all afternoon. Every time the kid got the ball he got smashed. But Scott Duncan's performance was incompetent. It should attract interest for people to look at why he's so bad.

"It changes the game if they go down to 10 men. It changes the game if the right full-back is on a caution. He's had nine fouls and he's not had a caution.

"This is the same referee I had in the Championship a few years ago He was absolutely horrendous and spent a week grovelling to me on the telephone."

Posh remain second in the table despite a third home loss of the season already to teams currently in the top six, with Accrington joining Portsmouth and Barnsley as winners at the ABAX.

But Evans felt his side deserved more after an improved performance from previous results, which also included a 1-1 home draw against another side in the play-offs in Doncaster Rovers.

He added : "We gave them too much respect, and they're a good side. They've got two of the most gifted wide players in the league. We afforded them too much control in the middle of the park.

"But second-half they've not had a shot at goal other than from a corner. We're disappointed we created two or three chances and didn't take them. If Matty scores there's the best part of nine or 10 minutes to go and we probably go on and get the winner.

"We did enough to win at home today. We didn't do anything against Barnsley, we didn't do enough against Doncaster and we didn't do enough against Portsmouth for me to be standing in front of the press and say we should be winning. But we should have won the game today, based on possession, based on chances."

Posh have a chance to register a first League One home win in six when they face Fleetwood Town on Tuesday.

RELATED

The match reportPlayer verdicts