Posh comeback ensures Darren Ferguson can smile despite ‘invisible goal’ setback

Manager Darren Ferguson praised Peterborough’s attacking quality as they recovered from having an “invisible goal” disallowed to win an incident-packed FA Cup first-round clash at Newport 4-2.

League Two County scored twice in as many minutes to lead 2-0 in the ninth minute thanks to an Anthony Glennon free-kick and Kai Whitmore’s smartly taken second.

But Abraham Odoh pulled one back after half an hour before teeing up Joel Randall to level in the 71st minute.

And two late goals from substitute Ricky-Jade Jones eased the League One side into the second round as they avoided becoming the Exiles’ latest cup victims at Rodney Parade.

“We made it as difficult as we could,” said Ferguson. “When you start a game of football the way we did, it’s always going to be tough.

“But I wasn’t panicking. I’m fortunate that I’ve got so much talent at the top end of the pitch. At the moment, quite honestly, we’re just going to have to outscore teams.

“As the game settled down, I hoped our quality would get us back in it.

“I was OK going to extra-time because I felt, fitness wise, we’d have the advantage. They were doing a lot of running.

“But, thankfully, Ricky came on and won us the game.”

Posh thought they had equalised before half-time when a Jack Sparkes corner ended up in the net via a defender but County convinced the officials that the ball had crept in under the side-netting.

“We had the invisible goal,” said Ferguson. “It was a goal. The footage shows that clearly. It was a bit surreal. I don’t think the referee knew what to do and the linesman didn’t help him. He’s made a human error. He said it went in the side of the net. It’s a mistake.”

That controversial moment didn’t matter in the end, and County head coach Nelson Jardim admitted the visitors’ extra quality proved decisive.

“We are frustrated with the result but I was proud about the effort of everyone, we have shown that we really compete,” said Jardim.

“It was such a good start and there were plenty of positives from the game. We knew that we were facing a very strong side from League One with very good players but I am proud of my team.

“They had quality but so do we, they just showed a little bit extra. We competed hard but we faced some players who I am sure that we will see in the Premier League in the future.

“We knew that Peterborough’s front four are very good and they always find a way to find them. When they did find them, we saw their quality.”