Posh U18s completed a five star performance against Ipswich Town to end their season on the ultimate high with a 3-1 victory.
The Peterborough United Under 18s finished off their season with a bang after beating Ipswich Town 3-1 at the home of Peterborough United, the Weston Homes Stadium, with goals from Joel Odei-Larbi and Max Beech as well as an early second half own goal to seal off the win.
Posh started off the game on the front foot getting lots of good chances from the wide areas and dominating possession until ODEI-LARBI capitalised on the positive play from the home side in the 16th minute to give the blues a well deserved lead. The stunning solo goal saw the winger beat his man on the wing before driving into the box to slot it across the keeper and into the far corner.
After gaining momentum from the first goal, Posh grabbed a second just seven minutes later from the number ten BEECH, whose curling effort from the edge of the 18 yard box beat the goalkeeper before nestling into the bottom corner.
Just as Posh were working hard to hold onto their lead going into half time, a penalty was conceded and Ipswich Town converted it striking it straight down the middle of the goal, to give them a potential lifeline back into the game.
Seconds after the restart, it was the visitors who gifted a third for Posh in the 46th minute to give them a much more comfortable lead. The goal came from a perfectly swung in free kick from George Holley whose effort reached the opposition player deep into the six-yard box as he chested it into the bottom corner.#
The team worked hard to keep a hold on their two goal advantage with Eddie Fox making an incredible last minute challenge to push the ball out for a corner just as the Ipswich forward was preparing himself for the shot.
After the fixture, Under 18 Lead Coach Jimmy Unwin spoke about his sides tactics heading into the fixture: “We wanted to dominate the ball like the first team do in terms of getting after them and making sure we have a high press. We were a one man press that goes to a two or a three, in certain moments we have trigger points that go in there and the boys have done that quite well today. We knicked the ball in the high areas we just need to do it a bit more and to make sure that if when do knick it, we score goals from it.”
Luke Gilbert also spoke after the game and said: ‘I think we dominated most of the play, we had spells where we had to sit in and be compact, with them hitting the bar a few times but I feel like overall we had the better possession and chances on goal.’
Posh: Trialist A, Gilbert (sub Aikins 57 min), Trialist B, Holley, Claxton, Mendonca, McWilliams-Marcano, Unwin (sub Fox 26 min), Shofowoke (sub Trialist C 74 min), Beech, Odei-Larbi (sub Trialist D 57 min).
By Ella Smetana.