Maddison turns on amateur dramatics
An Oscar- worthy apparent attempt to get an opponent sent off overshadowed a man- of- the- match display from Peterborough’s Marcus Maddison yesterday.
Maddison dramatically hit the deck when he and Wimbledon’s Liam Trotter squared up in the second half of this four-goal League One thriller. Dons manager neal Ardley labelled it an ‘embarrassing’ effort as the 24year- old’s attempt to con referee Darren Handley was caught live on TV and circulated on social media.
Maddison was wanted by Championship clubs in the summer and the Peterborough man showed why with a fine performance before his clash with Trotter. Wimbledon took the lead after 36 seconds through Lyle Taylor before Maddison assisted Danny Lloyd for his first league goal on his first league start.
Maddison then won a penalty and scored it himself before Wimbledon’s Cody McDonald made it 2-2 shortly before the interval. ‘He’s a really good player, a super talented boy. I feel he will be embarrassed when he sees it,’ said Ardley of Maddison’s theatrics
‘I don’t agree with trying to get a player sent off. He’s gone down and got a penalty — whether it was a penalty or not is debatable — and that’s fine. But to try to get someone sent off is disappointing.
‘There was no way anyone tried to throw a head. They were just giving each other the eyeballs, handbags. So he will be embarrassed and it’s disappointing to have that in the game.’
Referee Handley booked both Maddison and Trotter after the altercation. Peterborough boss Grant McCann claimed he did not see it but said: ‘Maddison was very good in the second half. We are lucky to have him, he’s a tremendous player and when he’s on song he is hard to deal with. I’m not taking anything away from him as I thought he was top-class.’
This result keeps Wimbledon in the League One relegation zone while Peterborough missed out on moving into the play-off positions.
Last week in the FA Cup against Lincoln, Taylor took seven minutes to score. Here, the striker took only 36 seconds, driving the ball into the bottom corner.
Peterborough hit back in the 26th minute when Maddison’s cross led to the equaliser. There was some suggestion that it was an own goal by Barry Fuller, but it was given to Lloyd in the end.
Ten minutes later, Maddison won a penalty after a blatant push by Tom Soares and stepped up to score it himself. Shortly before the break, a Deji Oshilaja long ball caught Peterborough’s defenders out as McDonald was left with just goalkeeper Jonathan Bond to beat.
It was in the 85th minute when Maddison clashed with Trotter, hitting the turf after their heads touched, but both sides finished with 11 men and one point.