I nearly resigned at half-time!

LEE Johnson appeared in the media room with mud stains on his knees as a legacy of post-match celebrations at Boundary Park.

Johnson poured praise on to those players who turned a 3-0 half-time thrashing into a full-time 5-4 win — after joking he almost handed in his notice at the interval.

“At half-time, where do you go from there? There were a few serious home truths thrown out,” said Johnson. “The lads were very embarrassed at half-time.”

Jonson Clarke-Harris and Connor Brown were introduced to the action as part of a double substitution after only 34 minutes, at which point Athletic were two down.

“They just didn’t get going,” Johnson added. “We had the first chance of the game with Charlie MacDonald, which he could have put away, and then conceded a poor goal.

“But it wasn’t about that. It was about the character of the players and in particular, those who got us going in the second half.

“We went more direct, putting Jonson Clarke-Harris on, and we knew we had to get the ball into him and basically get numbers around him. We just looked physically stronger in the second half and the wind was in our favour. The crowd was also whipped up to the best atmosphere I have ever heard at Boundary Park.

“It was a lovely, fairy-tale game, especially for me having just signed a deal – because at half-time, I nearly resigned!”

Gary Harkins spurred the fight back with a close-range strike three minutes into the second half.

After that, the untouchable Scot teed up David Worrall for Athletic’s second.

Nicky Ajose pushed Posh two goals clear once again, but James Wesolowski’s close-range finish was followed up by a cool Harkins penalty late on.

Genseric Kusunga then sent the home supporters into raptures deep into added time, but it was the efforts of on-loan St Mirren man Harkins who had everyone talking.

“He was superb,” said Johnson. “If we can get him going, like he was in the second half, he is a class player, Gary.”

“We managed to turn it around. I knew it was in us and I was desperate for the players that it came out.

“We played with intensity and passion and were full of running, power, tackling and quality.

“They were poor goals to concede, but what a turnaround.

“It was one of the best games I have seen in a long time.”