Two Marcus Maddison crosses provide assists for strikers
Ivan Toney and Mo Eisa as Peterborough United secured their first win of the
season with an accomplished performance against a lacklustre Southend side at
Roots Hall.
Posh started the match brightly as they swarmed all over
Southend in the opening 25 minutes but failed to convert their early dominance
and chances into goals. Mo Eisa had Posh’s first chance following a good pass
from full back Mason, however a deflection saw it go out for a corner. This was
the first of a number of early shooting opportunities for Posh which went
begging as a result of either blocks, poor finishing or some strong last ditch
tackles. Kent struck a low Maddison corner into the side netting in the 4th
minute while shortly after Toney fired a wild volley over the bar from a
Blake-Tracy cross following a swift Peterborough counter attack.
At this point Southend were playing right into Posh’s hands.
Open and expansive but uncomfortable in possession when put under pressure they
were unable to play through the high Peterborough press and succumbing to wave
after wave of attacks. Both Eisa and Toney had shots deflected for corners,
while Maddison hit a free kick from the edge of the area into the top of the
wall when he probably should have fired low. 15 minutes had gone and Posh were
dominating, Louis Reed looking majestic in possession and hitting raking cross
field passes with unerring accuracy as Southend failed to get pressure on the
ball.
This pattern continued for the next 10 minutes. Both Toney
and Eisa were linking play far better than they had in the opening four matches
of the season and some nice interplay from Toney and Boyd allowed the latter a
long range effort which sailed wide while minutes later some good last ditched
tackles prevented both Maddison and Eisa presentable shooting opportunities
inside the area. Despite their early dominance the closest Posh came to scoring
in the opening quarter stemmed from a calamitous miscommunication at the back. Unbeknown
to Southend defender Harry Lennon his stopper Nathan Bishop had ill-advisedly come
racing outside the area to deal with a nice Maddison pass and Lennon’s
backwards header trickled agonisingly past the left hand post.
After putting in a 25 minute performance surely as bad as
any by any side in League One so far this season, Southend rallied towards the
end of the first half. Perhaps it was the relief of surviving such a woeful
passage of play which gave them confidence but suddenly and unexpectedly
Southend were on top and the home crowd found their voice. Transferring the
ball much quicker into the Posh half to negate the high press and making use of
the space out wide in an attempt to isolate Posh’s fullbacks Southend suddenly
looked the better side. Posh keeper Christy Pym had to rush off his line to
prevent Mantom a one-on-one chance while Brandon Goodship did well to beat Posh
right back Nial Mason and work a good opportunity from inside the Posh area
before dragging his shot wide. While both Goodship on the Posh left flank and
Elvis Bwomono down the opposite flank found some joy against the Posh fullbacks,
Southend failed to test Pym in the Posh goal, let down by a succession of
corners which failed to beat Toney as first man and some woeful crossing from
promising wide areas.
Posh flew out of the traps after half time with a sumptuous curling
effort from George Boyd sent crashing against the post. Posh continued to pile
forward, an outrageous chipped through ball from Marcus Maddison resulting in
another volleyed chance for Ivan Toney being sent wide. Posh had re-found their
vigour from the opening stages, pressing hard to win back the ball high up the
pitch and moving it both quickly and purposefully when in possession. Despite
their dominance Peterborough almost came unstuck when Goodship curled wide
following a magnificent outside of the foot pass from Mantom. However, this was
the only blip in 15 minutes of Posh dominance to commence the half and shortly
after Posh deservedly took the lead.
Ivan Toney, who was immense all match for Posh both in and
out of possession, sprinted back after losing the ball to reclaim possession.
Posh quickly broke through first Boyd and then Reed before a pin point left
wing cross from Maddison was poked home by Mo Eisa. With Southend reeling Posh
struck again 2 minutes later. Maddison was again the provider with another
fantastic pass, this time from the right wing, finding Toney who controlled
well with his chest before firing into the far corner of the net. It was two
assists of the highest quality from Marcus Maddison, taking his early season
tally to 5 and once again showing why Posh were so desperate to keep hold of
him in the summer
.
The pace of the first 15 minutes of the second half was
frantic however predictably the half soon started to slow down. Posh began to
sit a little deeper, happy to try to absorb pressure and while Southend huffed
and puffed their inability to find a telling pass or cross in the final third
let them down. They did occasionally threaten, but once Mark Milligan’s header
from a corner hit the bar it was pretty clear the game was up and Posh came
away with a deserved first win of the season.
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