Kevin Nolan 'really angry' after 'ridiculous decision' in derby defeat to Posh

Perkins was dismissed inside 10 minutes at London Road after he supposedly caught Peter Kioso in the face – something Nolan disputed – and from then on Cobblers were always fighting a huge uphill battle.

Nevertheless, despite Harry Leonard scoring either side of half-time to seemingly put Posh in command, Town showed spirit and grit in abundance to get themselves back in the game as Tom Eaves halved the deficit, and they went close to snatching a point with a couple of late chances.

"The score doesn’t tell the story of the game," said Nolan. “We deserved more and we possibly would have got more if not for a ridiculous decision by the match officials. I could see from where I was standing that he didn’t catch him in the head so I don’t know what the officials saw.

"I don’t like coming out and criticising referees but that referee should have sent a lad off for Doncaster against us for a two-footed challenge and then today he sends a player off for catching someone on the hand.

"I’m really angry because my lads have given everything today and it’s testament to them and their hard work that we stayed in the game for so long. I believe we would have shown an even better account of ourselves had we kept 11 men on the pitch.

"I’m just very frustrated because that moment has changed the whole game. It’s a poor decision and that’s just too many against us now.”