MAHER’S HAPPY TO LEAD PIRATES
KEVIN Maher reflected on his first game in caretaker charge of managerless Bristol Rovers by saying: “I will happily do the job for as long as the club want me to.”
The first-team coach admitted it had been a “tough week” following the departures of boss Graham Coughlan and then his assistant Joe Dunne to Mansfield Town.
But Maher heaped praise on the players for overcoming the shock exits to extend their unbeaten run to 12 games against fellow promotion rivals.
Maher said: “It has been a strange week and the players have handled themselves magnificently. To win at Plymouth in the FA Cup and then take a deserved point today is a tremendous effort in the circumstances.
“Usually when a manager departs it is because of poor results. But things have been going really well for us and I wanted to concentrate on continuity. I have no idea what happens next. Maybe this result has bought the board a bit of time when it comes to appointing a new manager.
“All I can say is that I really enjoyed the experience and will be happy to continue for as long as necessary. I don’t even know yet if that will be for the Boxing Day game against Wimbledon.”
A quiet first half saw Marcus Maddison shoot narrowly wide in a bright Peterborough start. The visitors looked to have gone in front after 15 minutes when Anssi Jaakkola failed to hold a Joe Ward shot and Mo Eisa netted, only to be flagged offside. Liam Sercombe fired over with Rovers’ only first-half effort and it took a last-ditch tackle from Rollin Menayese to stop Ivan Toney getting the opener for Posh after 38 minutes.
Rovers keeper Jaakkola produced a superb second-half save from
Eisa’s goal-bound shot, before Christy Pym’s brilliant stoppage-time save from Ollie Clarke.
The midfielder looked set to win the game for the hosts when he found space inside the box to drill a low left-footed shot along a saturated surface, but Pym spread himself to block the effort. Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson was thrilled with the contribution of 17-year-old substitute Ricky Jade-Jones, who wreaked havoc in the closing 20 minutes.
“Ricky is the quickest player I have ever worked with,” said Ferguson. “We know what we have and the biggest problem could be holding on to him.
“He changed the dynamic of the game. We created the better chances, but I wasn’t happy with our set-pieces or final ball into the box.
“This is always a tough place to visit and, if we can maintain our home form, it will look a good point. “Christy Pym has made a great save when we looked in trouble at the end.”