Posh under 18s secure cup success and pick up point on the road at Southend in the league.
This week, the Peterborough United under 18s faced Southend United twice, once on the road in the league and once in the cup at the Mick George Training Academy three days later and Matthew Etherington’s men were victorious in the home clash thanks to a solitary strike from Shaun Keane.
In the league, goals from Charlie O’Connell and Luke Harris secured a 2-2 draw away from home, O’Connell’s strike coming from the spot and Harris finished off a flowing move during an entertaining first half of football.
Assistant manager Simon Davies said: “We played well in the first half, but we conceded two sloppy goals and ultimately that put us under a bit of pressure. However, the lads bounced back, created chances and got the two equalisers and had chances to go on and win. We had three efforts cleared off the line in the first half, but in truth, the second half was a scrappy affair and didn’t really get going.
“To get a couple of goals from midfielders was great, albeit one from the spot. The lads battled well in the second half, Southend were undefeated so we knew it would be a test. On the whole, it wasn’t a bad result, when you go away from home, you make sure you come away with something and we did that,
Posh v Southend (league): Blackmore, Mensah, Edwards, Bodie, Powell, O’Connell, Keane, Harris, Chiha, Darlington, Gyimah.
Meanwhile in the Youth Alliance Cup, Keane popped up with the winner to the delight of manager Matthew Etherington. “It was pretty similar in the first half on Tuesday to what it was on the Saturday to be honest, we made some changes to allow everyone to get minutes and we were good, especially in the first 45 minutes, controlling the game and creating chances in front of goal.
“However, it has been a bit of a common theme at the minute that we are not taking those opportunities when they arise. At 0-0, they changed their shape again and tried to be more pro-active within their press, it took us a little while to adjust but we ran out comfortable winners in the end. It was good to see players getting minutes under their belt and great to see Shaun on target again.
“It was a good learning exercise for everyone on Tuesday because Southend changed their shape quite a few times, that shows that we are doing something right that they have to make those alterations but also for us as coaches to deal with different challenges,” Etherington said.