‘Horrendous’ – Peterborough boss Ferguson rages that Millwall defender McNamara not sent off
Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson was furious that referee Leigh Doughty didn’t show Millwall defender Danny McNamara a red card for his tackle on Dan Butler in the first half.
The Posh boss added it was a “blatant” sending off.
The Lions lost 2-1 at the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Ferguson said: “The tackle was horrendous. It was a red card – absolute blatant red card. I had to make an early sub.
“Dembele’s been fouled about 25 times, the first one on him, he’s running towards the 18-yard box and he was hacked down on the halfway line and [the referee] didn’t book him.
“If you don’t book them, then they’ll keep fouling them. We’ve had that referee before and the red card is blatant. How he’s not broken his leg, he’s in a lot of pain. It’s a horrendous tackle.
“I said to the boys at half-time, if we get one we’ll win it. Jonson Clarke-Harris has come on and done what he’s paid to do, score goals.
“It was a very pleasing performance, it was good to watch. When you’re on the sidelines watching it and you’re enjoying it, it tells it’s own story.
“The formation [I played] is one I know very well. It’s difficult to play against if you’ve got good footballers. Today we did it and we played it perfectly. The midfield diamond was very good.
“Millwall normally play a bit higher so I went with a bit more pace. At half-time I was thinking ‘we have to get Jonno on and see if we can get balls into the box’.
“Overall it was a good performance and it was needed. It was thoroughly deserved. [In the first half] it was the same old thing, final ball and final touch.
“I was disappointed when we went 2-1 up, and we stopped passing it and went a bit deep. They stuck [Matt] Smith on and they’ve thrown it into the box. The best thing to do was to try and get a third to kill the game off. But I’m really pleased with the players.
“It was a poor goal [to concede], we made two or three really poor decisions for the goal.”