Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson offered his thoughts on Leeds United’s opening goal during the Whites’ 3-0 win over Posh in the FA Cup Third Round.
Two goals from Ethan Ampadu and a Patrick Bamford stunner sealed Peterborough’s fate in this year’s FA Cup as Leeds progressed to the Fourth Round of the competition in a professional manner. Leeds’ troubles on the road this season were temporarily forgotten as an XI skippered by Welsh international Ampadu saw off the Cambridgeshire club at the Weston Homes Stadium, but their win was not without incident.
Leeds’ opening goal courted controversy amongst the home supporters and players as referee Sam Allison allowed Ampadu’s goal to stand after it appeared as though Jaidon Anthony had taken a free-kick before the official’s whistle.
“Normally it’s one or two but as a collective they said that the ref blew the whistle after he kicked the ball,” the Posh boss and son of former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said, stating his players were unanimous in their belief that Anthony had taken the set-piece before receiving the green light from Allison.
Peterborough took longer to react to the set-play, allowing Bamford to cushion the ball into Ampadu’s path, who lashed in his first goal for the club.
“Look, for me it’s not an excuse,” Ferguson added. “You should be organised, you should be set-up better than that, it’s too easy. The first and third goals, you cannot give a team like Leeds goals like that, it’s really, really disappointing. That was the frustrating thing for me.”
In general, the League One manager believed his team gave a good account of themselves against higher division opponents and that the scoreline was kind to the visitors.
“Three-nil flattered Leeds, I have to be honest,” Ferguson told reporters after the game. “If you were not watching you’d think it’s a typical Championship-League One [game], they’ve gone out and won comfortably. Lots of frustration and disappointment in the game, obviously with losing it’s a flat dressing room which might not be the worst thing in the world, get that feeling again, of losing again, we’ve not lost many.
“It’s not a nice feeling, the difference between winning and losing after a game is massive. I thought we started nervy, I thought we were poor in possession in the early part of the game and they got a foothold in it. I thought we maybe gave up one or two half-chances to them but we grew into it.
“For the last half hour of the first half I thought we were as good as them. And just as we were building a bit of momentum they score and then you get to half-time, okay, stay calm, we’ve got to try and keep doing what we’re doing, a bit more quality in the last third and of course the boy [Bamford] scores a goal and it becomes a big challenge for us at that point.”
Leeds are into the hat for the Fourth Round and will discover their opponents on Monday evening when the draw is made.
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