After The Lord Mayor's Show

Following the 7-1 thumping of Ipswich at the weekend, Posh came down to earth with a massive bump as they came up against a very organised team in Middlesbrough.

Credit goes to manager Tony Mowbray for the tactics he employed against Posh as it completely nullified Posh's midfield triangle and at the same time caused problems in the home defence by not allowing them to play their composed passing game.

The game was only 4 minutes old when Posh, having controlled the play without making any progress into the opposition half, were caught out when continued pressure from Boro made the Posh defence cough up the ball and a swift attack ended with Joe Bennett crossing the ball for Barry Robson to slot the ball past keeper Paul Jones.

A very lethargic Posh fell further behind after 27 minutes when Seb Hines lost his marker Craig Alcock to plant a header into the net, doubling the visitors lead.

Half-time: Posh 0 - 2 Boro

Posh made 2 changes at half time bringing on loanees Tunnicliffe for captain McCann and Gordon for left back Alcock.

The change in personnel seemed to do the trick as Posh improved in the second half and it was veteran Boro keeper Danny Coyne who was the busier of the keepers and made two remarkable saves to deny Lee Frecklington a goal.

Despite creating a few more chances, poor finishing by Posh meant that Boro came away with what was a comfortable win to take them into the Third Round of the Carling Cup.

Middlesbrough will be hoping history repeats itself as twice before Boro have beaten Posh in the League Cup and gone on to get to the semi-finals.

Although Posh would've loved to have a good Cup run, their main priority this season is to establish themselves in the Championship and this defeat will allow them to focus more on the League.

Full-time: Posh 0 - 2 Boro


Peterborough United: Jones, Little, Bennett, Wootton, Alcock (Gordon 46), McCann (Tunnicliffe 46), Rowe, Frecklington, Tomlin, Boyd, Taylor (Ball 67)

subs (unused): Lewis, Thompson, Newell, Ajose

Middlesbrough: Coyne, Bates, McManus, Hines, McMahon, Bailey, Robson (Smallwood 46), Martin (Arca 65), Bennett, Haroun, Emnes (R. Williams 74)

subs (unused): Ripley, Kink, Main, Franks

Goals: Robson (4), Hines (27)

Ref: Gibbs

Att: 5,012

It was tough to choose anyone from the first half, how poor Posh were. With a better 2nd half performance, George Boyd stood out but was pushed closely by the impressive Ryan Tunnicliffe who came on for Posh captain Grant McCann.

For Middlesbrough, left back Joe Bennett always caused a threat and he played some dangerous balls into the box.




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