Peterborough's Women's team say they are 'appalled' and tell new 'fans' on social media they are not welcome after seeing posts flooded with praise for two players - because of their looks

Peterborough's Women's team have slammed 'fans' for flooding their social media posts with praise for two of their players purely due to their looks.

Peterborough picked up an impressive 10-0 win against Long Buckby AFC in the Northamptonshire FA County Cup with Tara Mae Kirk and Keir Perkins both scoring twice.

After Peterborough posted images of the two women to celebrate their goals on X, supporters piled in with comments, with many appearing to focus mainly on the players' appearances rather than their goalscoring ability.

There were also a number of remarks that appeared to be patronising the players, with one writer posting: 'Kirk > Messi and Ronaldo', while another stated the forward is 'the goatttttt' (Greatest of all time) and a fellow 'fan' claimed 'she must win the ballon d'Or'.

Another 'supporter' added: 'Another weekend, another Perkins and Kirk masterclass'.

The interest in posts involving Kirk and Perkins was also visibly noticeable. The post for Kirk's first goal was liked 20,000 times and received over 850 retweets, while her second goal got 17,000 likes and almost 700 retweets.

Meanwhile, the post for Perkins' first goal received 900 likes, and interest went up significantly for her second goal which got 6,500 likes.

By comparison, one of Peterborough's other goals from a different scorer received just 65 likes.

Peterborough have noticed this alongside a number of the disappointing comments from supposed supporters, and condemned the behaviour while also calling on social media companies to do more to stamp it out.

In a statement shared on X earlier this week, they wrote: 'Peterborough United Football Club strongly condemn all forms of social media abuse and are appalled by some of the comments aimed at our players over the weekend on X. 

'We would like to reiterate that anyone involved in making or sharing such comments will be reported and are not welcomed in interacting with our football club on any level. 

'We will continue to support the players who have received any social media abuse and work with governing bodies to find a solution to stamping out any future abuse. The welfare of our players is paramount and will always be our priority. 

'We hope social media companies will put the relevant legislation in place to stop any form of abuse from happening moving forward.'

Peterborough will be back in action on Sunday when they face Wolves in the second round of the FA Cup.