Peterborough manager reveals dramatic FA Cup draw vs West Brom was inspired by The Revenant

Back when Leonardo Di Caprio was going all method for The Revenant, sleeping in animal carcasses and chomping on raw bison meat in pursuit of his first Oscar, little did the man know his performance would have far bigger implications.

Namely the FA Cup fortunes of League One football club Peterborough.

Speaking to reporters this weekend, Posh manager Graham Westley claimed Di Caprio’s performance in the Alejandro González Iñárritu epic was the driving force behind his side’s heroic 2-2 away draw vs West Brom.

“The film was about a guy who was almost on his deathbed but found motivation and a driving force,” said the gaffer, after his side trailed twice in the game before coming back to secure a lucrative replay against the Premier League outfit.

Another unlikely source of inspiration it turns out was former boxing champion Buster Douglas:

“We were talking about Buster this morning and him getting knocked down by Mike Tyson [in the 1990 world heavyweight championship fight] but somehow finding it within himself to get back up and go again.

“His mother had died days before the fight and said on her deathbed to go out and beat Tyson. Nobody would believe what Douglas was going to do Tyson, but he knocked him out. Resilience is a learned trait, no question, and we showed a lot of that today,” added the gaffer.

Though on the basis of this excellent moment in the game - which saw Westley provide some slapstick comedy by purposely falling backwards upon kicking a burst football, we’re tempted to say the inspiration of the day was actually more Buster Keaton.