Darren Ferguson’s first home game back at Peterborough ends in ‘hammer blow’

Darren Ferguson described losing his homecoming at Peterborough as a “hammer blow” after Plymouth snatched a late 1-0 win.

Ferguson’s first home match in his third spell in charge of the club was settled by Ruben Lameiras’ superb 88th-minute winner.

Posh, who remained sixth in Sky Bet League One, had gone down to 10 men in first-half stoppage time after Lee Tomlin was shown a second booking for putting his arms on Plymouth’s Ryan Edwards, who fell down.

Ferguson, who has won three promotions with Peterborough, said: “There’s a coming together between Ivan (Toney) and the centre-half and Lee put his arm up. You don’t give the referee a chance to make a decision.

“Let’s be honest the defender has gone down like he’s been hit by a hammer. That’s what some players do and it’s worked to their advantage.

“It made it difficult for us. Saying that the lads did the best they could. I thought we would get something out of it but it was a blow at the end.

“Lameiras has got quality in his left foot. They did not have a clear chance – they had shots from outside the box but we restricted them very well.

“I said at half-time, ‘if you get through the first 20 minutes of the half the fans will drag us on’ and they did, but it was a bit of a hammer blow to lose that goal.”

Lameiras’ goal was his seventh in as many matches. There were few other chances in the match, although Posh striker Siriki Dembele shot wide from a narrow angle after rounding goalkeeper Kyle Letheren.

Argyle have now won five of their last six matches to move away from the relegation zone.

Manager Derek Adams said: “I thought we played very well against 11 men. It was good to not allow them too many opportunities – or to dictate the game – when the new manager is coming into his first home match since he took over.

“We didn’t want the home crowd to get excited. We quietened them down and they had a difficult 45 minutes to get out.

“Then you had the sending-off with Tomlin. He had already been booked. He was probably lucky it wasn’t a straight sending off. He had to go. There was no choice. It was petulant and the correct decision was made.

“The second half we have a lot of the ball and created a number of good opportunities but didn’t take them until a fabulous piece of play from Ruben.

“He has been able to pull a shot out of nowhere and that’s what he can do. We’re delighted.”