ROBERTSON IN FOR POSH JOB
Peterborough United caretaker boss Dave Robertson began his tenure with a win and then announced: “I love this club and want the job fulltime.”
Michael Bostwick’s late penalty sealed the victory for Posh after Bradford defender Stephen Darby had earlier headed into his own net.
Peterborough sacked manager Darren Ferguson last weekend, leaving academy chief Robertson in charge.
And the new man is hoping to use his big chance to make sure chairman Darragh MacAnthony has no choice but to hand him the job full-time.
“It’s a fantastic start. We have worked hard with the players in training and the final message was to take it across the white line,” said the caretaker boss.
“The real pleasing thing was the clean sheet.
“We had a game plan and we stuck to it. I’m happy with the performance and the result.
“I’ve thrown my hat massively in the ring earlier in the week that I want the job.
“I bring passion, pride and commitment to the club. To get London Road bouncing, as a person who loves the club, it could not be any better. We have to continue that.
“I’ve spoken to the chairman after the game. It’s a great result and we are taking it one step at a time.”
Neither side came close to scoring in a dull first-half, but the deadlock was broken soon after the interval.
Rory McArdle fouled Luke James nearly 30 yards out, to the right of centre.
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford flapped at Jon Taylor’s set-piece under pressure from Ricardo Santos, only for Darby at the back post to head the ball down and into his own goal.
Posh felt they should have had a penalty when Billy Knott handled in the area, albeit with his arm by his side.
However, Knott was penalised on the stroke of 90 minutes after the ball spun in the area and he inexplicably controlled it with his arm.
Bostwick smashed in the penalty down the middle to push Posh back in the top half of the league and make it two away defeats in a week for Bradford.
Bantams boss Phil Parkinson was hugely critical of referee Graham Horwood and denied the FA Cup quarterfinal next Saturday against Reading has affected his players.
“It was a dubious free-kick and a scrappy goal. And then it was one of the softest penalty decisions I’ve seen in a long-time,” fumed Parkinson.
“It’s a ridiculous decision. The linesman’s looking at it ten yards away and the referee is in a far worse position.
“But it was 1-0 at the time and did not cost us the game.
“We were not decisive in the final third. We need to pick ourselves up.
“We’ve got a home game on Tuesday against Crawley and we need to come out all guns blazing.
“We’re missing key players at the moment which is hindering us.”