The attractions of a hot mug of coffee, chocolate cake and a comfortable settee weighed heavily on my mind on a cold, wet and dismal evening - However watching the Posh won the tussle. I was bitterly regretting that decision when, with less than 10 minutes played, a neat passing Notts County had torn a woeful Posh apart and were 2 goals to the good. I began to fear we were heading for our heaviest defeat for some years such was County's dominance during the early exchanges. Grealish and Freeman in particular causing Posh problems. It was easy to see why Posh had tried to sign Jack Grealish, skillful, intelligent, providing the Midfield spark that Posh so desperately need. Posh's inability to pass to one another, especially in the Midfield area is a major problem for a team seeking to gain promotion. If by some chance we do go up much will need to change if we are not to repeat the feat of inhabiting 24th position in the Championship for another season. One moment of stupidity I feel cost County the match. 10 minutes after scoring Ronan Murray reacted to being held by pushing Swanson to the ground and he was given his marching orders. Having the extra man gave Posh some breathing space and weakened the County threat, it did little to improve Posh's performance, too many passes going astray - the only successful ones being backwards or sideways even then Defenders tried their best to mess up the clearances. I lost count of the number of times Posh players elected to shoot from distance instead of passing to a player in a better position (Note to Posh players: In football the ball has to go between the posts and under the bar to score, it is Rugby where going over the bar counts). Thankfully Posh have the ability to score goals in Nicky Ajose and Britt Assombalonga - they look a formidable partnership already, Ajose in particular with his vision and skill allied to his finishing ability. Even after Posh had taken the lead for the first time, thanks to a wonderful strike by Ajose from 20 yards out on the right, County, to their credit did not give up and were level again within 2 minutes thanks to more fine work, aided by a deflection, from Grealish. As the game seemingly meandered towards a 3 - 3 draw having to play a man down finally began to take its toll on the County players as they tired. Posh won 2 corners in quick succession and after a poor delivery for the first Swanson put in a much better effort into a crowded penalty area for Nicky Ajose to fire home from close range for a well deserved hat-trick. Somehow, in the space of 4 days, playing little better than they did against Kidderminster, Posh have gained 6 more points. The first 3 thanks to a woeful Tranmere being worse than Posh, the second 3 stolen, with gratitude, from a good Notts County side who, I am sure, will finish the season much higher up the table than their current position. Missing Bostwick and Rowe has added to Posh's problems and Kgosi Ntlhe was given a torrid time before being replaced. Until we get the Midfield firing then we will continue to struggle, tonight we should have been soundly beaten - instead we got lucky.
