Posh 6 (Assombalonga, Tomlin (3 - 2 pens), Swanson, Payne) Reading 0 Finally, we witness at Home the sort of performance that Posh have been showing in bursts away from London Road. The 5 - 1 drubbing of Colchester in the 1st round, then the comeback against Notts County to win 4 - 2 and the handsome victory over 10 man Tranmere left those of us that cannot travel all that frequently feeling a little miffed having to watch the laboured 1 - 0 win over a neat Swindon team and then the 2 - 1 victory over an unlucky Oldham who played the better football on the day, though the resulting 6 points were most welcome. When, I wondered, would I get to see a 'proper' Posh performance? I need wonder no longer that performance arrived this evening in the sparsely populated London Road venue. Darren Ferguson had promised to make some changes and he duly kept his word, Mark Little, Nat Knight-Percival, Danny Swanson and Jack Payne taking the field in places of Ngosi Ntlhe, Gaby Zakuani, Grant McCann and Danny Kearns. Had this weakened the team? Not at all, though Lee Tomlin was named by the sponsors as Man of the Match, in truth you could have picked anyone of the starting 11 and made a case for them to be MoM. Posh flew out of the starting blocks, the ball played out to Britt Assombalonga on the left, showing superb ball control he headed for the by-line before cutting inside the Reading defender to fire low and hard into the Reading net giving Federici no chance. Reading were playing some neat, possession football but only occasionally threatening Bobby Olejnik's goal, though he was called on to make a couple of smart saves. Before the 1/4 mark was reached Posh were 2 up, and what a stunning goal it was. Assombalonga again involved, his superb pass from the left wing finding an unmarked Lee Tomlin almost 30 yards out from the goal, Lee hit the ball first time, a sumptuous, dipping volley which flew past Federici. Posh were content to allow Reading to play possession football near the halfway line or in their own half only pressing and harrying as they got nearer the Posh goal area. After a Reading corner the ball fell to Danny Swanson just on the edge of the area and, with every other player Posh player back defending he ran and dribbled virtually the whole length of the pitch despite the attentions of 3 Reading defenders. As he neared the Reading area Britt Assombalongs had caught up with him and was unmarked and calling for the ball thus drawing one defender away from Danny, creating enough space for him to shoot and leave the hapless Reading keeper to pick the ball from the back of the net once more. Just before the break it could well have been 3 - 1 with Robson-Kanu's shot being tipped over the bar by the ever alert Olejnik. Many I know were disappointed when the half-time whistle sounded, not wanting the entertainment to end. We expected Reading to make changes and step up the tempo, but it was merely more of the same, Barnett and Assombalonga tormenting the Reading defence and when Britt was barged in the back inside the penalty area it was Lee Tomlin who took over the spot kick duties of the absent McCann. It made no difference, 4 - 0 and Posh most definitely cruising. To their credit Reading did not stop trying and for a period it was end to end stuff with both keepers called into action to make good saves. It was most surely 'game over' when Posh were awarded a second penalty, this time it was Tyrone Barnett who was fouled. Up stepped Lee Tomlin to take his last kick of the game, from the penalty spot, to make it 5 - 0. This signalled a flurry of Posh substitutions with Tomlin, Rowe and Assombalonga being replaced by Janaai Gordon, Jermaine Anderson and Nat Mendez-Laing. Lee Tomlin was given a well deserved standing ovation by both the Posh faithful and the very sporting Reading fans. Rather than sit back and defend for the last 10 minutes or so Posh kept going scoring a well-deserved 6th goal when a shot from NM-L cannoned back off the bar and from just outside the area Jack Payne fired low and hard through a crowd of players to beat the despairing dive of Federici. I am still buzzing at the thought that we had just stuffed a team who were playing in the Premiership last season. We had been royally entertained but I would willingly give up every one of those goals if it means ensuring a win against Crawley on Saturday. We did not play particularly well in our first two home games but won, to be fair Reading gave us space to play and we made them pay, I doubt we will be given similar freedom of the park by Crawley. A night when I am fast running out of superlatives to describe Posh, a night when I could not stop smiling, especially when comparing this evening's entertainment to many of Posh's performances in the 70's and 80's and the pain of 2009/10 watching us get stuffed week in week out. A night to savour, may there be many more to come. This is without doubt the strongest Posh squad I have seen since our entry into the Football League over 50 years ago. It is early days and there is a long hard slog through the coming winter months but I believe we have the strength in depth to cope with injuries/loss of form. My Man of the Match? The Posh Team (with a special mention for Tyrone Barnett, he may not have scored but he put in a strong performance and has convinced me the 'Tyrone Barnett' of last season has been banished and we are seeing the true player).
I do believe there was another team scoring 6 goals in the League Cup (though they did play against vastly inferior opposition and conceded 3 goals)
One interesting snippet, Posh have been awarded 5 penalties in the 6 matches played so far and have scored from the spot every time.
Good report OPP Barnett deserves the special mention lets hope he's off the transfer list as I sure there are a few clubs looking at him Him and Britt are starting to form a formidable partnership, as Fergie hinted when saying he keeps playing them because they are getting a good partnership going and it'll only get better the more they play together Tuesday nights game is up there with the best performances from a Posh team and I agree this is a very strong SQUAD See you all Saturday tough game against a good Crawley side who if the information I have is correct have added to their squad by signing Sinclair (some say we have put in a clause that he MUST play on Saturday ;-) ) from us in whats rumored to be a 400k deal if Sir Barry has got that sort of money he's done bloody well That's not saying Sinclair is poor I really don't think he's as bad as some make out and his goal scoring in the Championship is better than CMS and McLean's his pace and eye for a goal is not questioned just his anticipation and heading
Just hope our form continues .....with several Posh old boys returning to LR Saturday, just hope Paul Jones has a mare think Bossie will cope with Sinclair and Simpson...
