Chalk And Cheese – A Critical View Of The Opening Posh Match
Peterborough United started their League campaign with a confidence boosting victory over visitors Bristol Rovers.
Two first-half headers from Matty Godden and Mark O’Hara sealed the victory in what was a “chalk and cheese” display compared to their disappointing pre-season defeat the week before against Bolton Wanderers.
Posh started the match very strongly as they looked confident buzzing around the pitch and they probably couldn’t have dreamt of the start they got when Godden nodded in the first goal after less than sixty seconds. Mark O’Hara headed in the second goal midway through the first-half with both crosses being provided by the fullbacks. Jason Naismith was the provider of the first cross with left-back Colin Daniel the second.
In truth, the opposition couldn’t have worked out any better for a Posh side that will take time to gel before they start firing on all cylinders. Like Posh, Rovers lost their leading marksman in the summer and are still looking for a replacement so they had to rely on former Posh striker Tom Nichols.
Posh easily coped with Rovers as not only did the midfield out-perform their visitors in the first-half the defence easily snuffed out any threat that did get through the midfield.
The second-half was a different story though as Rovers boss Darrell Clarke must’ve given his players a rocket at half-time. Posh struggled to get a grip in that second 45 minutes with Rovers dominating large parts but that said, they were reduced to shooting from distance the majority of the time.
As Posh fans, we weren’t used to the type of management of the players on the pitch as Posh held firm whereas in previous years, we would’ve gone all out to score more which could’ve seen us draw this type of match.
Posh will certainly come up against much stronger sides than Rovers and one concern is still the ability to create chances as the stats for this match show Posh had just 6 attempts at goal! Godden and loanee striker Jason Cummings looked much better than they did the previous week and will only get better the more they play together but regardless of how well they play, it is the midfield that need to create chances for them.
Siriki Dembele is definitely an exciting player but for all his skills, has he got the ability to unlock the opposition? This will probably come with more experience while the central midfield players also need to contribute. They certainly showed on Saturday that they are capable of frustrating the opposition even when they are outnumbered but like Dembele, can they produce that killer pass?
Mark O’Hara showed in pre-season that he can get into the box and his forward runs resulted in an excellent headed goal. He has now equalled the total number of goals scored in the League last season by a central midfield player! Ironically, the player who did score that goal last season, Michael Doughty, scored a hat-trick at the weekend for his new side Swindon Town!
Joe Ward occupied the opposite wing to Dembele and while he did well in stopping any threat from the opposition and did plenty of defensive covering, when he did get a chance to attack, he was disappointing. Quite often, especially during the second-half, he just hoofed the ball forward to no one in particular! We know he has speed and skill to beat the opposition so if he can do this as well as the defensive side of things, then he will be a good player for us this season.
Defensively, we looked strong, but again it was just against a toothless attack! Naismith was impressive at right-back while Daniel did well most of the time at left-back. Ryan Tafazolli was immense while there are still doubts regarding his central defensive partner Rhys Bennett.
Posh were unlucky not to register a clean sheet against Rovers as they get on the score sheet in the 93rd minute. Goalkeeper Aaron Chapman must’ve been thinking after receiving the League Two Golden Glove award for 18 clean sheets last season that he was heading towards his first one in Posh colours. He could do nothing for the goal but his performance was a bit hit and miss. He doesn’t inspire confidence in his diving or kicking! Our preference for this position is still Conor O’Malley but while Posh are winning, O’Malley will remain on the substitutes bench.
Overall, it was good to get off the mark with three points but that is just one game out of a very long 46 game season. There will be many twists and turns to come but if Posh can add one or two more players to the squad before the permanent and loan transfer windows shut, and the squad can quickly gel then we can hopefully have a good season.
Posh travel up to Rochdale next weekend for their first away match of the season. Dale had a good win over relegated Burton Albion with both their goals in a two-one victory coming from former Posh midfielder Brad Inman. This will certainly be a good test for Posh.