Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson claims Sunderland should have had TWO red cards after 'horrendous' tackles

While the Peterborough manager was delighted to see his side go toe-to-toe with the promotion challengers, he slammed the performance of referee Antony Coggings following some key decisions.

Ferguson was left seething at the decision not to dismiss Bryan Oviedo who, having already been booked for tripping the lively Marcus Maddison in the first half, then looked to foul the same player shortly after the interval.

But Coggins instead booked Maddison for diving, while later brandishing a yellow card to Luke O'Nien after a heavy challenge on Ivan Toney - one which Ferguson felt was worthy of a straight red.

“My disappointment from the game was not getting any of the big decisions go our way," he said, speaking to the Peterborough Telegraph.

“Marcus Maddison was cautioned for simulation when he was fouled by a defender who should have been sent off and the foul on Ivan Toney soon afterwards was horrendous.

"He was karate kicked from behind and that should have been a red card.

“And for their goal the Sunderland player was about seven yards from the ball when he charged down Maddison’s free-kick.

"Referees have a tough job to do, but we didn’t get a big call go our way.”

And while disappointed with Coggins' display, Ferguson had no such qualms with the performance of his players.

Indeed, the Posh boss felt his side could have claimed all three points in what became an open, end-to-end encounter.

“It is two points dropped for us, but I really enjoyed the game," he admitted.

"Both teams went for it which is unusual these days, but we both had attackers all over the pitch in the final 20 minutes.

“We started well. I wanted to get at them from the first whistle and we did, but they have real quality and they were always going to have spells on top which they did in the run-up to half-time.

“I’d rather talk about my players for the way they went toe-to-toe with such a strong side.

"We defended well and we had our moments going forward - particularly when Ivan Toney joined Matt Godden up top."