Jimmy Unwin

The Posh under 18s were beaten by Wigan Athletic on Monday afternoon with the Latics profiting from three spot-kicks.

The Peterborough United under 18s were beaten 6-1 by Wigan Athletic in Professional Development League action on Monday afternoon as the Latics profited from three penalty kicks on a day where almost everything went against the Posh youngsters.

On a wet and dreary winter’s day, the home side were always in control of the game, but manager Jimmy Unwin admitted there were still positives to take from the performance despite the score-line.

“They scored from nearly every opportunity they created, I think they had seven shots on goal and scored six of them and three of them were penalty kicks. There were large areas of the game that I was actually happy with, we built the game up nicely, stuck to our philosophy but ultimately we didn’t defend well enough at the key moments.

“Obviously the weather conditions were not great, but it is the same for both sides, we can’t use that as an excuse, we just needed to manage those big moments better. It was one of those days for us, we have to just tick it off and move forward and use it as a learning exercise.

“We had one or two younger lads in the squad, they were experiencing an away day for the first time, they were out of school and that is something that they will remember. It was great to get a goal back, particularly as it came from one of those youngsters, Benji McWilliams-Marcano. He came on for a 30 minute cameo, had a real good impact in the game and probably put more crosses into the box than any of our other wingers that were involved.

“His goal was a brilliant one too, he cut inside onto his left-foot and put it in the top corner. He fully deserved that moment. He is a testament to our Schoolboy programme because he is in the full-time education programme alongside his football. He has earned his scholarship now and is pushing on to make an impact in the youth team.

Posh: Sakalas, Fox, Fitzpatrick, Holley, Rose, Toynton, Davies, Marcon, Winters, Beech, Ntege. Subs: Claxton, Kelmendi, Changunda, McWilliams-Marcano.