LEE CLARK looked back at the eight-minute goal blitz which shattered Town’s promotion hopes and earned Peterborough a quick return to the Championship and admitted: “This game is all about putting the ball in the net. They did it and we didn’t.”

Town, unbeaten in the league since December and in all competitions since January, couldn’t make their spell of second-half pressure count and paid the price as Tommy Rowe, Craig Mackail- Smith and Grant McCann netted for Posh between the 78th and 85th minutes.

It meant Town lost out on a place in the Championship having finished third, eight points above fourth-placed Posh in the final League I table.

But Clark, who saw Danny Ward fire a 59th-minute shot against the bar, continued: “We knew it was a one-off game and we ended up suffering because of a crazy eight minutes.

“For half an hour of the second half, we were the dominant team, and as long as we kept on doing the right things, I was expecting us to score eventually.

“But we knew they had a set-piece expert (Grant McCann) with a fantastic delivery, and that led to two of their goals.

“They withstood our attacking then hit us with a triple whammy.

“They got a touch to a free-kick for the first, the second took a deflection and then we lost a bit of shape as we chased the game.

“Let’s take nothing away from Peterborough. I’ve lost out to a good manager who has good people about him, and I wish them well.

“But defeat is eating away at me and the scoreline was certainly harsh. It looks as if it was a one-sided game but it was anything but.”

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Clark added: “I’m hurting as much as I’ve ever hurt in my career, but I’m hurting more for my chairman Dean Hoyle, for my players and four our supporters.

“Dean is a fantastic man who was first into the dressing room to see us at the end of the game.

“My players don’t have to be ashamed for anything that’s happened this season. They’ve run through a proverbial brick wall for me and they’ve set numerous club records.

“And of supporters have been brilliant, not just in this match but over the whole season.”

Clark, who suffered play-off semi-final defeat last season, will now take time out with his family but vowed: “I know what it takes to bounce back.

“At the moment, I’m mentally and physically drained, but once the batteries are recharged, I’ll be ready to go again.

“As a player at Sunderland, we lost a play-off final to Charlton but responded by romping the league the season after.

“And after last season’s play-off defeat to Millwall, I knew what I had to do in terms of rebuilding my team and went out and did it.”

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