The Posh Ladies bounced back from 3-1 down to beat second placed Rotherham 5-3 on Sunday afternoon.
A miserable wet day was in store for the travelling Posh Ladies as they made their way North to face Rotherham United Ladies for their next East Midlands Premiership fixture. Currently sitting in second place behind Posh, Rotherham brought a 100% league record to the game. Posh knew they had to be at or near to their best if they were to get anything out of this match.
Both teams traded blows for the first eight minutes without really threatening either goal but Posh were to be first to go really close when Captain Keir Perkins hit a post. But within a minute Rotherham had the lead after breaking down the right side with a slide-rule pass being swept home by the Rotherham player.
Posh were level on 28 minutes though. A good attacking move allowed Donna McGuigan to wriggle free from her defender, find Megan Parrett who skilfully turned her marker and found the back of the net. A relatively poor 15 minutes for Posh at the start of the second half saw them fall 3-1 behind with a well-executed shot from outside the box and an ever better free kick from Rotherham.
It really wasn’t looking too positive for Posh at this stage, but yet again key substitutions were to make a huge impact of the game. The introduction of Laura Beckett was the catalyst for a revival and on 75 minutes Hannah Pendred was brought down in the box and McGuigan was as calm as always on the spot to reduce the deficit to one.
Just three minutes later Posh were level, Beckett with the finish this time with a superb curling free kick from just outside the box. With five minutes of normal time remaining, a clearance from the Rotherham keeper went straight to Beckett and from 40 yards she let fly. The keeper who was well wide of her goal just couldn’t recover as the ball went over the line; superb quick thinking by Beckett.
In injury time, Posh recorded their 5th, this time it was McGuigan to steer the ball home for her second of the game after another good move from Posh.
This was a superb contest between two very good teams and the Posh display shows just how talented this current Posh Ladies squad are not to mention their character and fitness levels.
As it stands, Posh now have a well-deserved weekend off next before travelling to Kettering Town in the league on Sunday 9th February.
POM – Stacey McConville
Squad – Sophie Powell, Alice Macnicol, Laura Patrick, Emma Stevenson, Megan Parrett, Amy Challis, Leah Crawford, Stacey McConville, Hannah Pendred, Donna McGuigan, Keir Perkins (c), Jenna Kiely, Holly Lewis, Laura Beckett, Laura Dodwell.