BURY today leaped to the defence of David Johnson following the goal hero's controversial dismissal on Saturday.

The 20-year-old striker was red-carded following two cautions for celebrating his winning goal with animated gestures to the home crowd.

He repeatedly reminded the Peterborough fans of the 2-1 scoreline with his fingers despite warnings from referee Steve Bennett who viewed Johnson's actions as inciting the crowd seconds after his glorious strike clinched Bury's third successive victory seven minutes from time.

But neither home boss Barry Fry nor Shakers manager Stan Ternent agreed with Mr Bennett's decision.

Ternent said: "Johnson will not face any internal discipline. He worked hard all afternoon and took a lot of knocks to score a goal like that and all he did was over-celebrate. I don't know what the game is coming to."

Shakers skipper David Pugh added: "You have to take into account he is a young lad who is still finding his feet in the game and he has been sent off for stupidity. It's a real shame."

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