Posh Women Development Squad Suffer Loss in Five-Goal Thriller
A game full of goals from close-range and 30-yards ended in a 3-2 defeat for Peterborough United Women Development Squad against a well-fought Dunton & Broughton United Ladies on Sunday afternoon.
Posh Women Development Squad lost for the first time in three games as a late strike from Dunton & Broughton United secured the three points for the opposition. It means Posh lie fourth in the table with one game remaining, whilst title hopes are alive for Dunton.
Dunton had the first chance at goal only seconds into the game as they immediately drove through the Posh team, however, Hannah Johnson distracted the attacker enough to scuff her shot wide. The opposition continued to put the pressure on and flashed a free-kick over the crossbar minutes later. On 16 minutes, Dunton were on the attack again and hit the woodwork from a 30-yard curling effort before Megan Dellar caught a well-struck volley moments later.
The Posh settled down and recorded their first opportunity of the afternoon on 20 minutes as Ellie Curson drove towards goal and fired a shot at distance straight at the goalkeeper. It was the Posh who broke the deficit on 26 minutes as Kendall O’Connor’s cross was not caught by the goalkeeper, enabling Taya SMITH to poke home from a yard out. Maddison Moore had a chance to double the lead on 41 minutes but her shot from distance went wide of the post. Dunton & Broughton deservedly equalised on the stroke of half time as a misplaced pass was collected by the forward who scooped the ball over the on-rushing Dellar.
Posh started well after the break and regained the lead on 47 minutes as Hannah Murphy played O’CONNOR through the defence and her first-time volley struck the top left-hand corner. “Anything you can do, I can do better” was the theme song here as Dunton & Broughton drew level minutes later with a ferocious shot from 30-yards out.
Posh had a chance to take the lead once again as a corner scramble led to Taya Smith shooting from close-range, but the Dunton defence stood strong. The game began to stretch as both teams searched for the winner. On 73 minutes, Dunton & Broughton took the lead as a low cross was met at the back post by an unmarked midfielder who slotted home from close-range. The Posh chased an equaliser late on as Murphy’s volley was caught safely by the goalkeeper.
Manager Shaun Harley said after the game, “We didn’t play to the level today that we have shown over the last couple of months. It wasn’t a good performance. We weren’t at the races today and ultimately against a strong team like Dunton we are going to suffer. I believe if we had put in another positive performance today, we could have got something out of the game. Credit to Dunton, they are up battling for the title for a reason and they deserved the three points today.”
Posh XI: Dellar, Osker, Barnes, Johnson, King, Sharman, Podd, Moore, Smith, Curson, O’Connor.
Sub Used: McMichael, Murphy, Richards-Reeves, Gussin, Palmer.
Written by Lauren Shiels.