Jamal Campbell-Ryce

Posh U21s secured a 4-0 win over Whittlesey Athletic in their opening game of the pre-season schedule.

Peterborough United U21s kicked off their pre-season schedule with a 4-0 victory over Whittlesey Athletic at the Danzen Logistics Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with Gabe Overton netting a goal on his first return since the beginning of January.

Posh took an early lead through Josh Marcon before the lead was quickly doubled by Benjamin Arthur. Despite a wholesale of changes after the break, Gabriel Overton extended the lead before it was rounded off by a Trialist.

Posh started the game on the front foot and opened the scoring on three minutes as Roddy McGlinchley played a ball through the Whittlesey defence to Josh Marcon, he went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net.

Their dominance continued as Arthur doubled Posh’s lead on 13 minutes as a cross from the trialist was guided home by the England U18 international defender. Whittlesey carved out their first opportunity as a highball forward found their striker, however, some good defending from Arthur prevented the player from getting his shot away.

Posh changed their entire team after 45 minutes, with the opportunity of giving all players their first minutes of pre-season. The third goal came on 58 minutes as Tom Unwin played a ball in from the wing, he found Overton inside the box and he calmly poked the ball past the goalkeeper.

Overton continued to test the Whittlesey defence, however, his shot from the edge of the box was parried away by the goalkeeper. Posh added a fourth goal on 63 minutes as Hisham Chiha dispossessed the Whittlesey defender, the ball found the Trialist inside the box and he placed the ball into the bottom left corner.

Reuben Marshall had the final opportunity on 86 minutes as Dennis Kelmendi found the forward inside the box and his curling effort smashed against the crossbar. Following a strong start to pre-season, the players will continue to build on this in preparation for the upcoming season as the under 21s travel to Dereham Town on Tuesday evening (7:45pm) and the under 18s will face West Ham United on Saturday.

First-half team: Trialist A, Mills, Dornelly, Arthur, Fox, McGlinchley, Trialist B, Marcon, Kawa, Darlington, Ngete.

Second-half team: Trialist C, Dreyer, Toynton, Powell, Kelmendi, Bodnar, Chiha, Unwin, Trialist D, Trialist E, Overton (Marshall after 22 minutes).

Written by Jake Clipson-Cox.