Goodbye Grant after dismal draw

The problem with labelling a match as ‘must-win’ is not winning it.

And Posh manager Grant McCann paid with his job as his pre-match bravado in the press wasn’t matched by his players who delivered such a lifeless, witless, tepid display, many can thank themselves lucky not to be shown the door as well.

Sadly football doesn’t work like that and the players will live to fight another day while McCann reflects on an inability to persuade them to win a few more games.

Wimbledon are a poor team and yet they were better than Posh for the first 45 minutes and equal to them for the whole of the second-half.

The visitors admitted they would have been happy with a point before the game, but they were as disappointed as the home manager with a draw at the final whistle, mainly because they took the lead with 15 minutes to go.

Lyle Taylor’s fine finish looked like being a matchwinner, but Jack Marriott and Marcus Maddison combined to find an equaliser within three minutes.

It’s not the first time this season that pair have saved the day, although their usual roles were reversed with top scorer Marriott providing the killer pass and assist-king Maddison the cool finish.

Posh finished the game strongly, but couldn’t find another piece of quality to claim what would have been an undeserved victory.

Maddison was generally poor, but he was the man who gave Danny Lloyd the chance to miss a golden opportunity to open the scoring midway through the second-half.

Lloyd tried to control a bobbling ball rather than lash into an empty net and failed. Chris Forrester’s follow-up header was nodded off the line by visiting skipper Barry Fuller.

McCann had no inkling of what was to befall him the following day, but only the timing of his departure (10.3opm on a Sunday night) caused any surprise which was a particularly sad way to end an honourable stay.