Maddison double is a delight for gaffer
MARCUS Maddison scored twice in four minutes to help Peterborough beat Colchester with manager Dave Robertson insisting he always knew the attacker had it in him to be the match-winner.
Macauley Bonne gave the U’s the lead on the half hour.
But Maddison scored twice in quick succession soon afterwards to seal Posh’s first league win of the season.
Robertson said: “I was really disappointed with our first 20 minutes of the game but we got back into it.
“I needed to spark them into action and got all of the subs up and running and, to be fair, the reaction from the team was excellent and in particular Marcus Maddison.
“His first goal was a great strike into the far corner from out wide and then he scored from a central position with a fantastic finish.
“I’m waiting for the net to rustle as soon as he gets the ball because you know worst case scenario, he’s going to test the keeper.”
Colchester boss Tony Humes felt referee Mark Haywood should have sent Ben Alnwick off in the second half, after the Posh keeper was only booked for handling outside his area.
Humes was also unhappy that Joe Gormley was only cautioned for a bad foul on Matt Briggs.
Humes said: “We thought the referee (Mark Haywood) could have sent two of their players off.
“There was a twofooted tackle on Matty Briggs and with the other one, I don’t know where the referee got his interpretation that it wasn’t a goalscoring opportunity.
“He’s out there to do a job but he didn’t do it.
“I thought that we were very good in the first 20 minutes and we did what we set out to do.
“We looked very solid and caught them on a few counter-attacks, one of which we scored from, but then the players stopped doing it for some reason and that’s why we ended up losing a game we should never have lost.”
Colchester started well and George Moncur went close before Bonne slammed into the roof of the net from close range after Gavin Massey’s excellent first-time cross.
But Peterborough equalised less than a minute later when Maddison’s curling effort from the left flew past keeper Elliot Parish.
And Posh went ahead soon after with Maddison’s low strike from the edge of the area.
Maddison did come close to completing a hattrick with a free-kick that sailed just over, before Colchester skipper Alex Gilbey saw his longrange effort sail over late on, meaning hosts Peterborough held on for the win.