John Gregory: ‘Jamie Ashdown’s a fantastic goalkeeper despite his howler’

He said: “Peterborough’s third goal killed us. The first two were gifts and the third one was an early Christmas present.

“We thank Jamie Ashdown on many weeks for keeping us in games. He made a big mistake today and the game really turned on that moment.

“At 2-1 it was probably our best period of the game - it was all us, we had a lot of possession of the football. We were moving the ball around very well. We were still in the match but that goal knocked the stuffing out of us.

“People make mistakes, genuine mistakes, howlers. That was a howler without any question and unfortunately we’ve suffered the consquences.”

Despite the error, Gregory still back his custodian.

He said: “I still support Jamie - he’s a fantastic lad and a fantastic goalkeeper. When a goalkeeper makes a mistake it gets highlighted. When a striker misses an open goal like Izale McLeod did from a corner, no-one mentions it and it gets forgotten. That’s the life of a goalkeeper!

“He’s still one of us and I’ll still support him ‘till I’m blue in the teeth.”

Gregory did not think the win was down to Peterborough’s good play.

He said: “We contributed to our own downfall in many respects today. We’ve played better teams than Peterborough this season. They did play very well but I’d like to think if we hadn’t donated the goals to them we might have made a bit more of a football match.”