charlie o'connell

Posh U21s beaten by The Sky Blues on Tuesday afternoon.

Peterborough United U21s suffered a 2-0 defeat to Coventry City U21s at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Tuesday afternoon in the Professional Development League.  

The hosts carved out the first opportunity on two minutes as Ricardo Dinanga sent an effort just wide of the near-post. After a slow opening 25 minutes to the game, Kai Corbett had Posh’s first shot on goal on 27 minutes as his free-kick from the far left-hand side of the box went just over the bar. 

Posh rattled the woodwork just after the half-hour mark as Corbett’s floated corner was met by Emmanuel Fernandez at the back-post and his header hit the top of the crossbar. The deadlock was broken by the hosts on 38 minutes as Ricardo Dinanga advanced down the left-hand side before pulling it back to Justin Obikwu and he calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner.

The Sky Blues goalkeeper was called into action just before the break as an effort from Ricky-Jade Jones took a big deflection and looped over the Dan Rachel, but he recovered well to push it around the post. From the resulting corner, Ben Thompson saw his powerful effort from the edge of the box palmed away by Rachel.

The hosts doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time as Marco Rus burst into the box before guiding his effort into the far corner. The forward was close to adding to his tally in the opening minutes of the second half, forcing Blackmore into a low save to his right.

Posh had the ball in the back of the net on 57 minutes through Kabongo Tshimanga, but the referee blew his whistle after a foul on The Sky Blues goalkeeper. A few minutes later, Fuchs won the ball back in midfield and played the ball through to Jones who advanced into the box, but his effort was straight into the hands of Rachel.

Rus was inches away from adding a third for the hosts as his powerful effort from inside the box struck the underside of the crossbar before bouncing away. On 72 minutes, Charlie O’Connell rose highest to Joel Randall’s corner, but could only direct his header wide. 

Posh continued to search for a way back into the game as Emmuanel Fernadez played a lovely ball over the top to Randall, but Rachel was out quickly to smother the ball. Then, in injury time, Jones saw an effort hit the side-netting in the closing stages of the half after cutting inside onto his right-foot. 

Posh XI: Blackmore, Mensah (Darlington, 62min), O’Connell, Fernandez, Butler (Dreyer, 62min), Fuchs, B. Thompson, Randall, Jones, Tshimanga, Corbett (Tonge, 46min).

Subs Not Used: Laycock, Chiha.