Peterborough United boss Grant McCann hails his forward line after 'excellent' display at home to Lincoln

Peterborough United manager Grant McCann celebrates beating Lincoln at full-time. Photo: Joe Dent.

Peterborough United boss Grant McCann paid tribute to his forward line after a dominant 4-0 home win over Lincoln on Saturday afternoon (August 20).

For the second match running, Posh inflicted a first defeat of the season on their visitors to the Weston Homes Stadium with an impressive display.

Posh raced into a 3-0 half-time lead with goals from Jack Marriott and Jonson Clarke-Harris (2), before Marriott grabbed his second early in the second-half.

They remained second in the table though after Ipswich’s 3-0 victory away at Shrewsbury.

McCann said of his forwards: “They’re both fitter now. They’re fitter, stronger and sharper and they’ve had a really good pre-season and if we can keep them, fit, fresh and ready to go they will get a lot of goals this season.

"They want more too, Jonno was disappointed to come off. If I had taken Jack off, he would have been the same.”

Both players contributed to a high-tempo first half display that blew Lincoln away and Posh could easily have gone in at the interval more than three goals ahead.

McCann added: “I’m really pleased with the first-half performance, I thought we were excellent with the energy and executing the game plan we set out.

“Lincoln are a very good passing team so we knew we had to get the press right and I thought we did that. Particularly the wing-backs, Harrison Burrows and Joe Ward.

“The energy was excellent and it probably could have been five or six with the chances we had, but we can’t grumble with three.

“In the second half, we just controlled it. Lincoln changed their shape a bit to a back five and we found it a bit more difficult, but it was nice to score a goal early and kill the game.

“Over the years, my teams have always been built on energy and aggression, as well as ability, but you have to win your duels and compete first and when you’ve got people like Jack Taylor, Jeando Fuchs, Ben Thompson, Hector Kyprianou, that’s exactly what they do.

“I’m pleased with the team performance, 4-0 at home, I can’t complain. We’re pleased to get two back-to-back wins after the disappointing show at Plymouth so the boys can gain a lot of confidence and momentum from that.”