NO POSH MIRACLE ‘Use pain of of relegation’
By NICK PATTISON at the Weston Homes Stadium PETERBOROUGH’S one-season stay in the Championship was ended by a Sam Surridge first-half header.
But at least Grant McCann’s no-hopers went down with a fight.
It was never truly in doubt that this would be Posh’s last meaningful game in the second tier.
It certainly did not help their cause that they had to face Steve Cooper’s promotion-chasing Nottingham Forest side.
McCann (below), who was shown the door by new Hull City owners Acun Medya in January, has transformed Peterborough’s form in his 12 Championship games so far.
The Posh boss admitted: “It’s a sad day for everyone connected to the football club.
“People work tirelessly behind the scenes and fans pay their hard-earned money every single week, home and away, but we just haven’t been able to deliver.
“I can’t thank the players enough for the attitude, effort and determination that they have put into the 12 games since I’ve been here.
“We saw that again today when we went toeto-toe with probably the best team in the division at the current moment, but a loss of concentration cost us for the goal.
“A lot of the players won’t have been in this position before and felt this sort of pain, but they have to feel it and use it to their advantage to ensure the comeback is stronger than the failure.”
Forest, who are up to fourth in the table, largely controlled the second half, but they blew the chance to double their lead when substitute Lewis Grabban blasted a late sitter over the bar.
Cooper had sympathy for his opposite number McCann after the game. The Forest boss said: “Fair play to Peterborough. They have some good young players and really put up a fight today. We’ll be happy to get back on the bus with the win.
“It’s easy to say now, but I’ve got a lot of respect for Grant and he knows that, as we spoke even before he came here.”
It took the visitors most of the first half of this encounter to get going.
In fact it was the hosts – needing to win and hope fourth-bottom Reading lost to keep any chance alive of avoiding the drop – who looked the more lively in the opening exchanges.
But like all good teams, Forest were ruthless when they were given a decent opportunity to score, and Posh’s fate was sealed.