The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
McCann chases points rather than plaudits
Posh manager Grant McCann is ignoring the praise his side received for their performance at Sheffield United last weekend. Posh went down 1-0 to one of the promotion favourites at Bra mall Lane despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession.
An early goal for Matty Done settled the destination of the points, but Posh played football good enough to impress Blades boss Chris Wilder, if not McCann.
“I was with Chris on Tuesday night and he complimented me on our performance ,” McCann revealed.
“It’s always nice to hear other clubs saying we played well, but it’s scant consolation. I’m not interested in plaudits. I’m interested in points.
“Of course I want us to play good, entertaining football, but I want us towing ames first and foremost. We got what we deserved at Sheffield even though we played well.
“We played well without winning and that’s the bottom line. And that frustrates me and disappoints me.
“With the possession we had we should have created more scoring chances than we managed.
“We made some bad decisions in attack. We delivered some powderpuff shots at goal from long range when we should have taken another pass.
“And when we did create a scoring opportunity we just weren’t ruthless enough.
“Gwi on Edwards had an opportunity to score in these con d-half and if that chance had fallen to Billy Sharp at the other end it would have been a goal.
“We also started the game slowly and that’s something we have to address. Starting slowly against sides of Sheffield United’s quality will prove costly and so it proved. The management staff have been looking at statistics that suggest if we score first weare 70 per cent more likely to get a positive result.”
It was the first time Posh had failed to score in an away game this season and the defeat dropped McCann’s men to ninth place.
Posh have now failed to win any of the three League games played since the impressive 2-0 win at MK Dons.
“Failing to win the two previous home matches hurt us ,” McCann added.
“If we’d won those matches - which we should have done - it would have been a ‘free’ game for us in Sheffield.
“We could have gone there and enjoyed ourselves, but instead we put ourselves under pressure to get a result.
“But an early goal enabled Sheffield to sit deep in the second-half which made it difficult for us.
“I made three changes in the second-half to give us a bit more energy, but we just couldn’t get the goal we needed.”
McCann handed 17 yearold striker Deon Moore his Football League debut as a second- half substitute for Tom Nichols. Left-back Jerome Binnom-Will i ams and Paul Taylor also started after missing out the week before against Port Vale. Blades boss Wilder was delighted with his side’s win against a team he rates highly.
Wilder said: “It was a very pleasing win against dangerous opposition, who have several talented players. We recognised their strengths in our analysis of them and we were resolute and determined, and created the better chances.
“We played well and deserved the victory, but credit to (goal keeper) Simon (Moore) who made a terrific save with the game at 1-0.
“Peterborough will cause a lot of teams so many problems with the way they play, so credit to them and their manager, but I’m delighted we kept our winning run going.”
The Blades were winning for the fourth League One match in a row to move upto sixth place.
Chris Wilder: “Peterborough will cause many teams a lot of problems.”