Darren Ferguson unhappy with referee Ollie Yates

Posted Wednesday, March 13, 2019 by PA

Darren Ferguson criticised referee Ollie Yates after an 87th minute Joe Pigott penalty gave Sky Bet League One bottom club AFC Wimbledon a 1-0 win over play-off chasing Peterborough.

Peterborough missed an opportunity to leap into the top six as Posh defender Rhys Bennett was deemed to have clumsily felled Dylan Connolly in the box three minutes from time, given a red card for his troubles and Pigott then stroked home the spot kick.

And Ferguson was left questioning the referee’s positioning as he felt conned out of a result at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.

“I’ve just seen it and it’s a terrible decision,” said the Posh boss. “Their player (Connolly) has leaned into Rhys.

“The referee is on the halfway line and you can’t give decisions like that unless you’re absolutely certain.

“It’s a bad decision and the double-whammy is that he’s sent Rhys off. We’ll probably appeal that because it’s a poor, poor decision.

“The guy has kidded the referee. The boy has been clever and leaned into Rhys, who hasn’t touched him.”

Posh had earlier missed a slew of opportunities to take the lead as Ivan Toney forced a save out of Dons stopper Aaron Ramsdale and then flashed wide, while Marcus Maddison was also denied – increasing Ferguson’s frustration following a 3-1 loss to second-bottom Bradford on Saturday.

“The difference for us at the moment is that we’re just not ruthless in both boxes,” he added. “The first half hour we just didn’t start with the tempo that we wanted.

“Ivan Toney had two very good chances and we should be winning this game, no disrespect.

“But there’s no excuses at the moment, we’ve lost to the bottom two teams.”

Victory gives Wimbledon’s once-minimal survival hopes another shot in the arm, as four wins from their last six league games have seen the south-west Londoners move just four points from safety.

“It was a massive win for us, it really was,” said manager Wally Downes. “Joe (Pigott) put the penalty away well late on and there was some pressure on that.

“I’ve not seen the penalty incident but it was a coming-together and the referee has obviously chosen to send their player off.

“We needed it because the game looked like heading for a draw. We’re four points off (safety) now and that’s two wins in two here after another good result last weekend.

“We’re delighted with the result but we’re not content with that – we can’t be.

“We need to move the focus now onto the next game on Saturday. We go to Southend at the weekend and that’s our cup final now – that’s how we have to look at it.

“The players are giving everything and we just need to keep the momentum going.”