Head to Head: Peterborough United v Southampton

Vital Posh looks at previous matches between Peterborough United and Southampton.

Peterborough United host promotion chasing Southampton at London Road on Tuesday evening looking to finally seal their Championship status. Southampton have been at the top of the Championship since mid-September and were knocked off top spot after going down to a 3-1 home defeat to Reading who leapfrogged over them.

Matches involving Posh and the Saints have been few and far between with only 6 competitive matches between them! Three of these encounters were in the league and they only came during last season and this season!

Past League Results

2011/12	01 Nov	Southampton	2	–	1	Peterborough	Championship
2010/11	05 Feb	Peterborough	4	–	4	Southampton	League Division One
2010/11	20 Nov	Southampton	4	–	1	Peterborough	League division One

Last Time Out at London Road

I doubt many people will forget the last time the Saints travelled to London Road for a League game. In front of the Sky TV cameras, the two sides battled out an entertaining 4-4 draw!

Both teams were in the play-off positions with just over half the season gone and goals regularly flowed at London Road with 69 goals being scored in just 14 home league matches! The Saints were the third highest scorers away from home so everyone was expecting goals in the game.

Both sides set off at a energetic pace with Posh having the first efforts of the game but both McCann and Tomlin had their efforts blocked by the Saints backline.

Posh should`ve taken the lead after only seven minutes though when a reverse pass by Tomlin set Geoge Boyd racing free towards goal but after delaying his shot his effort was saved by the legs of keeper Kelvin Davis.

The dangerous Rickie Lambert saw a header go wide before Richard Chaplow was cautioned for a foul on Boyd as Posh looked to make a counter attack.

The blustery conditions was causing both sides problems and it was Mark Little who misjudged the swirling ball allowing Oxlade-Chamberlain a chance but his curling effort went wide of the goal. Moments later Craig Mackail-Smith headed a glorious chance over the bar as the ball went from end to end.

Not surprisingly, the first goal came with just 19 minutes on the clock. An excellent shot was parried away by Lewis and with the Posh backline flat-footed watching the ball, CHAPLOW had the easiest of chances to poke the ball home for the opening goal of the game.

Some excellent skills by Tomlin created space for Charlie Lee who tried his luck from 25-yards but he couldn`t direct his effort on target.

Lambert was causing the Posh defenders all sorts of problems as he got in behind Ryan Bennett to force Lewis into another good save.

Most of Posh`s efforts were from distance and it was Boyd who next tried his luck from range but as with all the other long range efforts beforehand, the ball ended up going wide of the target! Wheldale then tried following good work from Little but his left-footed effort went high and wide.

Oxlade-Chamberlain then won a penalty after going down easily when running past Little in the box. LAMBERT was his usual cool self as he casually slotted the ball past the diving Lewis to double the Saints advantage.

Lee had another long range effort go wide in the latter stages of the first half before Posh finally got on the scoresheet. The ball was headed goalwards by Kennedy which was flicked on by Boyd and Tomlin into MACKAIL-SMITH`s path who toe-poked the ball through the keepers legs.

With everyone expecting Posh to go into the break behind, they produced an equaliser on the stroke of half-time. A cross from McCann found the head of WHELDALE who planted the ball into the back of the net.

That wasn`t the last action of the half though as Kennedy had to clear the ball off the line to keep the teams tied at the break.

Half-time: Peterborough United 2 – 2 Southampton

Posh could`ve taken the lead shortly after the restart when Tomlin played in CMS but he couldn`t convert the chance from a tight angle.

The second penalty of the match was awarded shortly afterwards when Chaplow went diving in front of Kennedy and with not the best of views, the referee decided to award the controversial penalty. LAMBERT again stepped up and had no trouble burying the ball into the back of the net.

Tomlin was then pushed in the box at the other end of the pitch and remarkably, the referee waved away appeals for a penalty.

After only 5 minutes of the second half had gone, Southampton had restored their two goal advantage following an excellent corner routine. HAMMOND received a short ball from Oxlade-Chamberlain before burying his hsot into the top corner of the net.

Bennett tried to get Posh back into it but could only see his header deflected over the bar by Butterfield. A rare foray forward by fellow centre-back Kelvin Langmead saw him upended as he charged into the box for a penalty decision that no referee could turn down. McCANN placed the ball past the keeper to bring Posh back to just one goal behind again.

With McCann boosted by his goal, he then saw a free-kick go just over the bar before the first change of the match was made. Whelpdale was replaced by Nathaniel Mendez-Laing with Posh hoping the Wolves loanee could cause problems for the tiring Saints defence with his pace.

Tomlin curled a free-kick wide of the target before Southampton replaced Do Prado with Fraser Richardson. Mendez-Laing set up an effort for Boyd with five minutes remaining, but his right foot effort found the legs of Davis who was the man standing between Posh and a deserved equaliser. CMS then saw his shot gathered up by Davis.

With just three minutes remaining, Fergie rolled the dice for the final time as midfielder McCann was replaced by forward David Ball for a final push for an equaliser.

Those three minutes came and went before the fourth official showed five added minutes were to be played.

It was in the first of those five minutes that a goal-bound effort was handled by Oxlade-Chamberlain in the box for Posh`s second penalty of the game. However, with regular penalty taker McCann already off the pitch, who would have the bottle to take it? That man was Lee TOMLIN who calmly stroked the ball into the corner of the net for the equaliser.

Final Score: Peterborough United 4 – 4 Southampton

Posh dropped two places to 8th following this draw while Southampton remained in the play-off places.

Posh: Lewis, Little, Kennedy, Langmead, Lee, Boyd, McCann (sub Ball 87min), Mackail-Smith, Bennett, Whelpdale (sub Mendez-Laing 70min), Tomlin.
Unused subs: Jones, Wesolowski, Rowe, Davies, Basey.

Saints: Davis, Harding (sub Dickson 65min), Fonte, Lambert, Barnard (sub Forte 85min), De Prado (sub Richardson 75min), Butterfield, Hammond, Seabourne, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Chaplow.
Unused subs: Bialkowski, Jaidi, Gobern, N’Guessan.

Referee: E. Ilderton

Attendance: 6,905 (1,287 Saints fans)

	Peterborough	Southampton

Goals:	4	4
Possession:	51%	49%
Shots On Target:	6	5
Shots Off Target:	10	3
Corners:	5	7
Fouls:	13	13
Most Fouls:	Little (4)	Do Prado (3)
Yellow Cards:	1	4
Red Cards:	0	0
Scorers:	Mackail-Smith (39) Whelpdale (45) McCann (55 pen) Tomlin (90+3 pen)	Chaplow (18) Lambert (31 pen) Lambert (47 pen) Hammond (50)