FT: St Neots 2 - 5 POSH This fixture was originally scheduled to be a Posh youth/Development squad fixture but was upgraded by Fergie to the full 1st team squad. Posh started with: Alnwick Bostwick Baldwin Zakuani Ntlhe NM-L Payne Anderson Oztumer Assombalonga Washington Apart from Taylor and McEvoy in place of NM-L and Oztumer I fully expect this to be the line-up against Rochdale on Saturday (the only other possible change would be Smith for Bostwick if he is fit enough). Although St Neots play a full 4 Divisions lower than Posh it was not readily discernable from their neat, passing football, good movement and crisp tackling, denying Posh the time and space they wanted. Only the final ball into the box and finishing ability let them down. A free-kick awarded to Posh within the first few minutes gave Oztumer the chance to curl the ball past the defensive wall and despairing dive of the Saints keeper to open the scoring, much to the delight of his family and quite healthy Posh travelling support. Ntlhe doubled the lead with a simple tap-in after Assombalong's shot had been parried into his path a couple of yards from goal, he also won the penalty kick which allowed Britt to score his 2nd goal of the evening having earlier converted a delightful cross from his strike partner Conor Washington. An earlier effort from Michael Bostwick came closer to derailing the 1930hrs London-Newcastle train than troubling the St Neots keeper, easily clearing the high fence and sailing majestically onto the tracks. St Neots were unchanged after HT whilst (apart from NM-L) Posh fielded a completely different team. Brisley and McCann were both guilty of much wayward passing and St Neots fought gamely to get into the game, reducing the arrears when former Posh player Jay Davies finished neatly after Posh had carelessly conceded possession in midfield. Barnett made it 5 -1 after good work by Vassell who put a dangerous cross into the box, the ball was laid back to Tyrone on the edge of the area to finish coolly. St Neots were undeterred and kept going, Roberts scoring a very good goal 10 minutes from the end, the Posh were once again guilty of being sloppy in possession. The 1st half team did enough to stay in pole-position for places in the team for Saturday's opening league match - none of the 2nd half team (apart from McEvoy) did enough to force their way into contention.
