Peterborough United substitute rescued his goalkeeper in FA Cup draw

Two horrible blunders with his feet by the Australian number one moved Posh to the verge of a their first, first round exit since 2005, but up stepped emergency striker Fernandez to equalise in the 92nd minute with an excellent header.

Salford had led twice through a Stephen Mallan strike into an empty net in the first-half after Bilokapic had passed the ball straight to him and again when the goalkeeper allowed a Zak Sturge back-pass to sneak under his boot and into the goal.

Ricky-Jade Jones had claimed the first equaliser barely 30 seconds into the second-half to continue his love affair with this competition as well. It was a fourth FA Cup goal – he’s only started three ties – for the 20 year-old who was also scoring for the third game in a row.

Posh boss Darren Ferguson was true to his word about resting players with the most minutes under their belts this season as Hector Kyprianou and Peter Kioso didn’t make the matchday squad, while Harrison Burrows and Ronnie Edwards were left on the substitutes’ bench.

There were five changes to the starting line-up from the the win at Blackpool the previous Saturday which confirmed the Tuesday League One game at Wigan was seen as more difficult, and presumably more important.

Centre-back Romoney Crichlow, left-back Sturge and midfielder Ryan De Havilland were all handed rare starts.

Josh Knight became the fourth Posh skipper of the season, while former London Road man Liam Shephard lined up as one of three centre-backs for the visitors.

Posh started in lively fashion with Kwame Poku racing away down the right and smashing a cross across goal before De Havilland tested visiting goalkeeper Alex Cairns from 25 yards.

But on five minutes the sort of accident that has threatened to damage Posh all season finally happened as goalkeeper Bilokapic’s errant pass was punished by Mallan who shot home from 25 yards into an unguarded net.

Posh went on to dominate the ball against a packed defence who kept a high line, a dangerous tactic you’d think with the pace of the home forward line.

Sadly the passing into those players was often under-hit and intercepted.

Joel Randall did send Sturge galloping into the penalty area, but his attempted pass was read by a defender. Ephron Mason-Clark skipped into the area on a couple of occasions without finding teammates.

Not until injury time did Posh test Cairns for a second time though when he beat away Poku’s fierce drive with the ball then scrambled to safety.

But Posh caught Salford cold at the start of the second-half and equalised within 30 seconds. Mason-Clark did the hard work with a neat turn away from his marker and a burst forward.

He slipped Randall through on goal and his neat little short pass was converted by Jones.

Salford actually responded well to the leveller. A 25 yard free kick from Mallon was well dealt with by Bilokapic and a couple of corners came to nothing.

Posh were a threat whenever Poku picked the ball up out wide. He continually raced past his marker and his excellence should have led to a first Posh goal for Ryan De Havilland, but his eight yard shot was somehow kept our by a defender.

Posh looked like they were getting on top, but then disaster befell Bilokapic again 20 minutes from time. Sturge did well to race back and intercept a hopeful through ball, but his back-pass somehow beat the goalkeeper and travelled calmly into the net.

It was a dreadful moment for the young man who won’t have helped by the disapproving noises from the crowd for the next minutes.

Posh then went gung ho, but without much of a clue until added time. Among five substitutes they sent on Fernandez to play up top and he delivered a superb header into the corner of the net from a Mason-Clark cross in the second of five added minutes, a laughably low number fully in keeping with the erratic officiating seen all afternoon by referee Sam Purkiss and his team.

Salford actually came closest to winning the game against a now disorganised Posh line-up.

But a draw it was for the second successive season, at this stage of the competition, against these opponents, at this ground and, a result and an extra game Posh would well have done without.

Posh: Nicholas Bilokapic, Zak Sturge (sub Harrison Burrows, 75 mins), Jadel Katongo (sub Ronnie Edwards, 75 mins), Romoney Crichlow (sub Emmanuel Fernandez, 87 mins), Josh Knight, Ryan De Havilland, Archie Collins, Kwame Poku, Ephron Mason-Clark, Joel Randall (sub Jonson Clarke-Harris, 75 mins), Ricky-Jade Jones (sub Malik Mothersille 87 mins).

Unused Subs: Fynn Talley, James Dornelly, Donay O’Brien-Brady, Jacob Wakeling.

Salford: Alex Cairns, Ethan Ingram, Adrian Mariappa (sub Theo Vassell, 74 mins), Liam Shephard, Luke Garbutt, Elliot Watt, Ryan Watson, Stevie Mallan (sub Matty Lund, 90 + 5 mins), Curtis Tilt, Kelly Nmai (sub Conor McAleny, 87 mins), Matt Smith (sub Connor McLennan, 74 mins).

Unused subs: Joe Wright,Marcus Dackers, Liam Humbles, Sandro Da Costa, Junior Luamba.

Goals: Posh – Jones (46 mins). Fernandez (90 + 2 mins).

Salford – Mallon (4 mins), Sturge (og, 69 mins).

Cautions: Posh – Katongo (foul).

Salford – Garbutt (foul), N’Mai (delaying the restart), Ingram (delaying the restart).

Referee: Sam Purkiss 5

Attendance: 4,066 (Salford to follow)