GRANT RAGES AT REF RETHINK
PETERBOROUGH lifted their Walsall ‘curse’ – but boss Grant McCann was left cursing the officials that his high-flying Posh did not take all three points at their bogey side.
Posh had not beaten Walsall in eight meetings since their relegation back to League One in 2013 – and had not even scored in four trips to the Banks’s Stadium.
They got one of those monkeys off their back at least when Gwion Edwards cancelled out ex-Posh man Erhun Oztumer’s opener.
But they were controversially denied a winner when referee Seb Stockbridge initially awarded a goal for Junior Morias’ close-range finish but, after a lengthy chat with his assistant, then ruled it offside.
McCann raged: “I’m fuming. I really am.
“I’ve just seen it back and I knew from the way Marcus Maddison had crossed it that Junior wasn’t offside.
“The linesman initially put the flag up, then he put it down again, so he had made the correct decision.
“Then, for whatever reason, the ref has gone over and spoken to him, and they have both decided that he is offside. It’s crazy.
“The first half, I picked the wrong team, I picked the wrong formation. I take the blame.
“The second half, I picked the right team and we should have come away from here with three points. We were outstanding in the second half but we’ve been done by a decision.”
Walsall were good value for their half-time lead, Oztumer drilling into the roof of the net at Jonathan Bond’s near post after the keeper had parried from Luke Leahy’s 20-yard strike.
They could have led by more – Oztumer had crashed a 25yarder off the bar early on and Shaun Donnellan’s glancing header hit the post nine minutes into the second half.
Posh improved and levelled on 71 minutes as Edwards’ overhead kick from a Chris Forrester cross flew into the ground and up and over stranded Walsall keeper Mark Gillespie.
Then came Morias’ disallowed goal and McCann would have been even more enraged had Walsall sub Zeli Ismail not ended a lung-busting stoppage time run with only a tame shot straight at goalkeeper Bond.
Walsall boss Jon Whitney said: “For us to handle them like we have, nullify them, and have a threat and be a little bit unlucky not to win it, is very pleasing.
“Peterborough are a dangerous team. They’ve got goals right through the team but we stifled them really well.
“When you look at the goal they scored, it’s a bit of a fortuitous one.
“We hit the crossbar in the first half and then the post in the second – if that goes in, it’s a turning point, we’re 2-0 up and suddenly it’s a different game. “But, in general, for 70 minutes, I thought we were
the better team.”