Angry Posh out to right a wrong

PETERBOROUGH United's Tom Nichols has scored 13 goals so far this season

CRAIG Mackail-Smith and his Peterborough colleagues will go all-out against Athletic to attempt to rectify what they saw as a miscarriage of justice and in doing so, re-ignite flagging play-off hopes.

Already with two goals for Posh against Chesterfield on Tuesday night, Mackail-Smith (33) appeared to have made it 4-3 to Grant McCann's side with a close-range header.

However, on a night on which Peterborough struck the woodwork four times, the flag went up for offside - much to McCann's chagrin. A draw against the seemingly doomed-to-relegation Spireites leaves McCann's men seven points adrift of the top six, in 11th place in Sky Bet League One.

"I am very disappointed," McCann told the Peterborough Telegraph. "Mainly for Craig Mackail-Smith who should have been celebrating a hat-trick and a winning goal.

"Instead he's sitting in the dressing room with his head in his hands.

"I've watched the DVD back and it's a ridiculous decision to give him offside. It wasn't even close. I have no idea what the official was thinking.

"I don't know who we've upset, but very little is going for us at the moment. We've hit the woodwork four or five times here and created enough chances to have won three or four matches.

"We could have scored seven or eight. Scoring three away from home is great. We were more ruthless than we have been, but not as ruthless as we need to be."

Mackail-Smith, on loan from Luton in a third spell at London Road, scored his 100th goal for the club in the 2-1 home loss to Oxford last Saturday.

Athletic will also need to be wary of his strike partner Tom Nichols, the former Exeter hot-shot who has scored 13 times this term.

McCann is certainly not short on confidence ahead of the clash with an Athletic side who saw Posh off 2-0 at SportsDirect.com Park in late January.

"If we take this form into the next game we will win and we need to win some games," McCann added.