Ashton Fox

Posh U21s beaten 2-0 by Bristol City at the Weston Homes Stadium.

Peterborough United U21s fell to a 2-0 defeat to Bristol City at the Weston Homes Stadium on Tuesday afternoon in the Professional Development League, with Matthew Etherington fielding a mixture of U21 and U18 players in his starting eleven.

Two goals in the final 20 minutes condemned Posh U21s to a narrow defeat in a game that had very few opportunities from either side, but it was The Robins who were clinical in-front of goal when the two chances presented themselves in the closing stages of the second half.

Posh started the game strongly and on eight minutes, after a lovely move from Matthew Etherington’s men, Lewis Darlington found Ryan Broom advancing into the box, who took one touch before getting an effort out of his feet but it went wide of the target. Andrew Oluwabori, who is currently on loan at Kettering Town and has netted two goals, got down the right-hand side and looked to spot Darlington inside the box, but his low cross was cleared by The Robins’ defence.

The Robins created their first opportunity of the game on 38 minutes as Josh Owers fired his effort wide of the post following good work from Marley Rose to find Owers on the edge of the box. The game certainly started at a higher tempo after the break as James Morton sent a free-kick from just outside the 18-yard box narrowly wide.

Broom sent a free-kick on the right-hand side of the box over the bar after Oscar Tonge was brought down after he advanced towards The Robins area. Etherington made a triple sub on 65 minutes as Overton, Oluwabori and Harry Titchmarsh were replaced by Kellan Hickinson, Trialist B and Trialist C.

The deadlock was broken on 72 minutes by The Robins as a throw-in into the box wasn’t cleared by the Posh defence and the ball fell to Tommy Blackwell, who shifted the ball onto his left-foot and fired past the trialist keeper. Roddy McGlinchey was cautioned on 81 minutes following a strong challenge on Joe Lowe.

The Robins doubled their advantage from the resulting free-kick as the deep ball found Ryley Towler at the back-post and his header into the ground evaded the trialist keeper and went into the back of the net. McGlinchey was inches away from cutting the deficit in the final minutes of the game as his effort from the edge of the box rattled the post.

Posh XI: Trialist A, Oluwabori (Trialist B, 65min), Dornelly, Fox, Lamb, Tonge, Titchmarsh (Hickinson, 65 min), McGlinchey, Broom, Overton (Trialist C, 65 min), Darlington.

Subs Not Used: West, Arthur.