Posh 1 (Assombalonga) Swindon 0 After what seemed a never-ending summer break football finally returned to London Road, hopefully to put the heartache of the last minute defeat that sent us down to bed. Posh started brightly enough although it was former loanee Alex Pritchard that had the first shot at goal. Danny Kearns buzzed about in midfield, harrying the Robins players, leaving McCann to control play. Swindon played neat and tidy football with good movement off the ball and accurate passing matching the Posh, where they were lacking was upfront, whilst Posh had recently signed Britt Assombalonga. Ironically it was 'route 1' football that led to the only goal of the game, a fine pass from the boot of Michael Bostwick lofted forward and well anticipated by Britt, sprinting away from his marker to latch onto the ball and fire it into the net past a helpless Foderingham. This lifted the crowd and we were of the opinion that the goal would settle any first day nerves of the Posh players and we would run out comfortable winners. Apart from one fine save by Olejnik there was little goal-mouth action worthy of note at either end of the pitch. At the end of the first half many of us thought that Fergie's team talk during the break would get the Posh to raise their game and show their Championship pedigree. Not a bit of it! Such was the quality of possession I thought for a moment that Posh had changed into red shirts, yet it was Swindon running the show leaving Posh chasing shadows, loose balls unchallenged, a mere shadow of the team that started the match (apart from the Defence), thankfully we no longer leak goals at an alarming rate, though Swindon were unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions, only good defending and the woodwork preventing a well-deserved equaliser. Perhaps Posh were playing with only 10 men I wondered, which might account for the plethora of Red shirts which seemed everywhere. It was only when Lee Tomlin was substituted that I realised that he had in fact been on the pitch during the second half, such was his lack of impact in the latter part of the match. Posh were far from their best and won,whilst Swindon can count themselves unlucky not to salvage a point, or indeed even win the match. There is much to admire about the Swindon team, Pritchard, Reis and Foderingham amongst others. Sign one or two proven goalscorers and they need have no fear of relegation and may even find themselves at the other end of the table. The positives for Posh? A win, a good Defensive performance and a goal for the debutante, but a much needed improvement is needed in Midfield if we are to maintain a winning run, especially away from home. After all their pre-season turmoil and changes, well done to Mark Cooper and Swindon, you deserved better.
Great to see everyone again pre-match First half was good to watch & the singing of "we are going up" when the goal went in made me chuckle. Glad Britt has scored in the first game ... prevent the pressure of scoring building on him. Once that went in I thought we would relax & go on to score a few with a lot of hard work & nice passing going on. So what on earth happened second half .... talk about getting anxious .... I agree we were very lucky to get away with 3 points. & what about the ref .... whistle happy or what .... spoiled a lot of the early game
Excellent three points Posh fans. Anyone who beats the Swine is good by me...lol Can't believe we let in a last minute goal today...
Yep brb .... gutted for you Thought you had got a draw when I left London Rd after our game ... must have been a very late goal
Whelps (you know him well...lol) lost the ball in the Colchester half, I felt it was his fault, too complacent and caused a last minute counter attack. I used slightly stronger language at the time.
