Posh 1 (Swanson) Watford 1 (Deeney) A warm, muggy evening did not get off to the most auspicious start for some of us Posh fans, the stewards contriving to lose the key to the gate meaning they were unable to let us in at our designated entrance and we had to walk back up Glebe Road to gain access to the South Stand. That aside the sparse crowd were entertained by some good football by the Watford players, most notably their Italian/Spanish contingent (many of those that were on loan last season have now signed permanent contracts). For long spells Posh players were left chasing shadows as Watford moved the ball about at pace and no little skill, they were a pleasure to watch and it is my belief they would not be out of place in the Premiership with their current squad. Posh battled hard and did have a couple of chances on the counter, with all the good work in midfield coming from Tomlin, Swanson and Kearns, young Jermaine Anderson put in some good tackles but was let down by his, at times, woeful passing. However he is young and raw but the potential is there, he can only get better. Joe Day looked very solid in goal pulling off a couple of fine saves in the first half. his kicking is improving and he is a more than able under-study to Bobby. Sinclair looked a forlorn figure as the lone striker up front, feeding off scraps, as Posh played 3 - 5 - 1 to start before switching to 4 - 4 - 2 after the break. It has to said it was against the run of play, but thanks to good work by Tomlin and Swanson, Posh took the lead midway through the second half, regrettably a lead that lasted barely a minute as Watford were awarded a free kick 20 yards out. McGugan's effort cannoned back off the crossbar and the Posh defenders failed to clear the ball allowing Troy Deeney to shoot coolly across Day to level the scores. With substitutions being made by both teams at regular intervals not unnaturally the flow of the game began to stutter. Posh finished the match with 4 former youth team players on the pitch and none looked out of placed though, to be fair, Watford seemed content to sit deep and allow Posh possession for the last 15 minutes. A good work-out for both teams, especially the Posh midfield and defence, where we lacked quality was upfront. I have now watched a few of the pre-season games and none of the senior strikers, Barnett, Sinclair or Ajose have stood out to lay claim to the vacant No. 9 shirt. Considering McCann, Bostwick, Alcock and Payne played no part in this game plus Zakuani and Rowe only played 30 minutes I remain quietly confident we have a promotion winning squad, all we need is that, so far elusive, replacement for Gayle, capable of scoring 20+ goals in League One. For me the current trio are not showing the desire and the youngsters like MacDonald and Gordon are, as yet, untested at this level.
they were looking very good last season .... was surprised they didnt go up the play offs are such a lottery
