Ferguson fumes at ‘ridiculous’ goals...

DARREN Ferguson bemoaned his side’s inability to keep clean sheets as they salvaged a first-round replay with a draw at Stevenage.

The League One outfit were on the brink of missing out on the second round for the first time since 2005, but Marcus Maddison’s fine effort after 78 minutes cancelled out Elliott List’s opener.

But Ferguson, far from praising his side’s resilience, instead levelled stiff criticism at Posh’s sloppy defensive display.

“I’m not feeling relieved. We just can’t find a way of keeping clean sheets,” he said.

“We just keep giving away ridiculously bad goals and that’s what happened again. The goal’s just so easy to defend I feel, and we just don’t defend it.

“We said at halftime ‘make sure your concentration’s good, don’t give anything away and eventually a bit of quality will win us the game’.

“We just can’t keep clean sheets again.”

Maddison, who cost Posh a point last weekend with a poor penalty during the defeat at Shrewsbury, made amends to keep Ferguson’s side in the competition.

Stevenage stopper Paul Farman made a couple of good early saves to keep out a Maddison free-kick and an effort from Frankie Kent.

Alex Woodyard went close for the visitors when he fired into the side netting and Farman produced a super fingertip stop to keep out Mo Eisa’s strike.

Substitute List completed a fine counter-attack to give the hosts the lead just before the hour.

That was after the visitors were lucky to keep their full complement on the pitch, when Daniel Butler was shown yellow after bringing down Emmanuel Sonupe when the winger appeared to be through on goal.

Posh huffed and puffed and got their rewards with a super Maddison strike levelling. Farman made sure of a replay when he tipped another Maddison effort against the post.

Boro boss Mark Sampson was keen to praise how his side acquitted themselves against higher-tier opposition, but pointed out what he felt to be a refereeing error.

“There’s obviously that big turning point in the second half. I think the referee’s missed one there and they should have been down to 10. It’s a clear goal-scoring opportunity,” he said.