GILLS STUNG BY OFFSIDE RULING
GILLINGHAM boss Justin Edinburgh turned on the officials after Jon Taylor’s stoppage-time goal prevented his side from a fourth league win in five games.
The unbeaten Gills looked like claiming victory at Peterborough after Adedeji Oshilaja bundled in his second of the season but Taylor slotted home late on after Stuart Nelson parried Marcus Maddison’s cross.
However, Edinburgh was upset that Ricardo Santos interfered with play when he tried to latch onto the delivery from an offside position.
“The goal was offside, it shouldn’t stand,” he said. “There’s a new law introduced for this season, but the officials aren’t sticking to it.
“The rule has made things much clearer; their player clearly made an effort to go for the ball, so it’s clearly offside. The linesmen need to help the referees here.
“But we didn’t start well, I thought we looked jaded, although we probably had the better chances in the second half.
“There are still a lot of positives – five out of our games so far have been away from home, so I’m not underestimating what we’ve done this season.”
Posh started brilliantly, as Conor Washington had two good chances within the opening three minutes to open the scoring.
John Egan and Chelsea loanee Jordan Houghton twice came close to putting the Gills ahead before the break as visitors began to assert themselves on the game.
In an increasingly end-to-end game, both sides had chances aplenty after half-time. Maddison’s effort was deflected just wide and only Nelson’s feet prevented sub- stitute Souleymane Coulibaly from opening the scoring for the hosts on 67 minutes, while Gills striker Luke Norris saw his free-kick hit the bar.
Norris somehow hit the post with a header when unmarked in the box from Ryan Jackson’s cross, but he made amends for his part in the visitors’ goal on 85 minutes. He kept play alive following Bradley Dack’s cross and Oshilaja headed in.
Yet Posh fans should be encouraged by their team’s resilience. Kyle Vassell hit the underside of the bar with a 25yard volley on 88 minutes, before Taylor was in the right place at the right time to slot home for the equaliser.
“The pleasing thing is that the team didn’t want to settle for a 1-1 draw,” said Posh manager Dave Robertson.
“I’m pleased with their performance and the work rate, spirit, energy and determination the players showed here.
“I don’t think we deserved to lose, but I have to say the group have a never-say-die attitude. They don’t know when to give up. I don’t think that was our best performance this season in terms of possession, but that was our most solid performance and it’s a building block.
On the controversial equaliser, Robertson added: “I learned last week at Burton that it’s pointless to question the referee’s decisions.
“You can’t change anything.”