Peterborough United boss Grant McCann bemoans lack of killer instinct as Posh held to draw against Burton

Jonson-Clarke Harris gave Posh the lead early in the second half and Posh went on to dominate the half but were not able to add to their advantage.

Posh did not end up losing any ground though thanks to defeats for Barnsley and Bolton. Derby behind them were also beaten by Port Vale; leaving McCann’s men still sitting in 7th, one point off the play-offs.

McCann admitted: “We know we have players in the squad who can score goals, but we just lacked that killer instinct at the top end of the pitch. We got ahead, but we couldn’t finish the game off with a second goal and got hit by a sucker punch.

“Last week the quality was there, but today it was lacking a little bit.

“Usually the boys would be clinical in those situations. Today they weren’t and it cost us. The one little bit of quality we showed, we ended up scoring from.

“We controlled the ball in the second half and probably should have scored three, four or even five goals. We got into so many situations where we thought something good was going to happen, but it just didn’t as we were so wasteful.

“We didn’t want one point, we wanted three, but we have to remember every game in this division is tough.

“We’re never going to go through a full season winning every single home game. We’ve lost one and drawn one now.

“We know we have to perform well here and I felt we did that for large spells in the second half, but it comes back to the fact we didn’t take our chances.”

McCann was unhappy with the way his side performed in the opening period but was much happier with their overall showing after the break. He was left to rue poor finishing and a possible foul on Clarke-Harris from Sam Hughes which went unnoticed by the officials in the build-up to Burton’s leveller.

He added: “We lacked intensity in the first half. We weren’t aggressive enough in the way we pressed the ball, or in our first and second contacts. Too many times we were sloppy and didn’t get the first pass off.

“Burton have some experience in their team and we made it their type of game in the first half. That changed in the second half until we conceded from a sloppy ball into our box.

“We defended the first phase in which they nearly scored, but we didn’t react to the second phase of play.

“We allowed them to get inside the pitch, but I’ve got to be honest I thought there was a foul on ‘Jonno’ at the back post.

“It looked like Sam Hughes had two hands on his shoulders which meant he couldn’t move, but we should still defend better.”

Posh return to action on Tuesday (October 11) when hosting lowly Forest Green at the Weston Homes Stadium at 7.45pm.