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Posh anger at late Leeds win

Image: Leeds celebrate Darren O'Dea's injury-time winner over Peterborough

Peterborough's manager and chairman both verbally attacked referee Keith Stroud after their side's 3-2 defeat to Leeds.

Ferguson furious after referee adds on 'extra' added time

Peterborough's manager and chairman both both verbally attacked referee Keith Stroud after their side's 3-2 defeat to Leeds. Darren O'Dea's 96th-minute goal won a thrilling contest for the Whites, but that only told a fraction of the story. The Republic of Ireland defender's second strike in as many games - which landed over the line off the underside of the bar and was initially credited to Luciano Becchio - came two minutes after the four minutes of signalled added time had expired. It also came minutes after O'Dea could have followed Peterborough's Lee Tomlin off the pitch for a last-man foul on David Ball, that flashpoint seconds after Mark Little had taken advantage of Paul Rachubka's error to score Peterborough's second equaliser two minutes from time. Prior to that, sublime goals from Andy Keogh and Adam Clayton had put Leeds ahead, with Gabriel Zakuani equalising in between times, while Posh's Tomlin saw red for a vicious-looking tackle on Keogh. Within seconds of the full-time whistle, chairman Darragh MacAnthony, recently fined by the Football Association, tweeted: "I want my fine money back from FA. Game ruined again by total incompetence. Fix the problem instead of dishing out fines. DO YOUR JOB." Manager Darren Ferguson shared his chairman's frustrations, especially as Tomlin's dismissal, a decision he did not dispute, came while George Boyd was told to stay off the pitch by Stroud in order to change his socks three times following an injury. "We were excellent, but to go down to 10 men gave us a problem," an irate Ferguson said. "That was disappointing and I'm told it was a red card. It wouldn't have been a sending off if Boyd had have been on the pitch. But if he (Tomlin) has done it, I can't tolerate that. "But I'm stood by the linesman, he (the fourth official) puts four minutes up, and then he adds two more minutes on and I can hear him say: 'That's time up', but there's another two minutes added on. "It's all about them, you can't go near officials, you can't talk to them for 30 minutes. It's all about them. "Four minutes of injury time and they score in 96 minutes. But don't forget it's Leeds United, so it'll be okay." On whether or not he felt O'Dea should have been sent off late in piece, not knowing that the Celtic loanee went on to score the winner, Ferguson added: "I don't want to talk about Leeds United players being sent off." Leeds manager Simon Grayson saw his side concede an injury-time goal against Coventry on Tuesday - brought about by another Rachubka error - and was happy to see his men benefit from a late goal this time out. "It was a game we should have put to bed before that, we got a little bit sloppy," he said. "This is a difficult place to come to, but we've shown the quality we have all season. It's not easy here and I'm delighted with how we played and the quality we showed." Confusion had reined following United's late winner, with both Becchio and O'Dea claiming it, but Stroud confirmed afterwards that O'Dea had been credited with it. Grayson was happy to go along with that verdict, and also backed the other decisions Stroud made during the game. "I think it was a red card," he added. "I've seen it, the lad jumped in and if it had have been one of my players I would have thought it was a red card. I'm sure he's not a malicious but he left himself open to it. I think it was the right decision. "I suppose people will say: 'It's a minimum of four minutes' and we conceded a goal against Coventry in exactly the same circumstances. It's the way football goes."

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