Posh really got their pre-season under way with their first challenge match at the Zeeco against Stamford.
Seven of the ten new signings started the match and it was new recruit Siriki Demebele that gave Posh the lead with an early strike from the edge of the area. Posh created a number of chances but saw all of them squandered by either missing the target or shooting tamely at the home keeper.
Alex Woodyard was instrumental in the middle of the pitch spraying balls all over the place and he certainly looks a decent player. Danny Lloyd was his usual lively self with a mixture of skills but also a mixture of good and poor passes. Gwion Edwards was rather subdued though as he was played on the right side of midfield.
Of the other new players to feature in the first 45 minutes, Matty Godden missed a number of chances to open his Posh account but he did make some good runs off the ball. Mark O’Hara linked up well with Woodyard and made some decent tackles in the middle of the park while Dembele was tricky on the ball but like Lloyd, his final ball often went astray.
The other three newbies were all in defence. Colin Daniel at left-back, Jason Naismith at right-back and Rhys Bennett partnering Ryan Tafazolli in the centre of defence. All three did reasonably well but the opposition didn’t cause many problems and didn’t stretch them. Naismith did go on the odd venture forward which was promising.
With this being the first match of pre-season, it was never going to be a goal-fest but more about getting rid of the cobwebs. It certainly did that but it was also vital for the new players to settle in quickly and gel as a team if we are to get any sort of success this season.
