Derby day humiliation for 10-man Peterborough United after a horror show at the Weston Homes Stadium
Peterborough United suffered derby day humiliation as they crashed to a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Northampton Town at the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday.
It could have been a much bigger margin of victory as Posh delivered a pitiful all-round performance for which there was little mitigation. Cobblers were much more aggressive, much more incisive in possession and well worth their first Football League win at this stadium since 2006, and a first league double over Posh since the 1986-87 season.
They deserved to indulge in huge celebrations after the game as they eased their own relegation problems, The only consolation for Posh was their own advantage over the drop zone didn’t shrink, but on the field this was as bad as it’s been all season, surpassing the Boxing Day disaster at home to Mansfield Town.
Posh were also 3-0 down at the break that day, but on this occasion Darren Ferguson’s were also a man down after Tayo Edun’s moment of madness to pick up an obvious red card at 1-0. He’s now been sent off in two derby games and any hope of a recovery in this game went down the tunnel with him.
Posh made two defensive changes to their starting line-up. The absence of centre-back Sam Hughes because of injury had been well signposted and Jadel Katongo stepped in, while manager Ferguson opted for James Dornelly ahead of Carl Johnston at right-back.
Cobblers made three changes to their team after an apparently lamentable midweek performance and switched to a flat back four. Former Posh skipper Jack Baldwin was not in the visiting squad.
Posh started badly and didn’t really improve. The game was over after a quite dreadful first half which was spent giving the ball away, while defending horribly.
Cobblers came to press and Posh didn’t respond well enough. Dara Costelloe headed just wide on three minutes and Katongo had to make a brilliant block to keep Cameron McGeehan out after an error by, of all people, Kwame Poku.
Posh broke the press once and almost profited as James Dornelly’s cross-shot was kicked clear by Cobblers’ keeper Lee Burge in the eighth minute, but normal service was soon resumed with the visitors snapping into tackles and forcing their hosts into regular errors.
A goal seemed inevitable and it arrived on 16 minutes when Katongo backed away too readily enabling Sam Hoskins to curl a shot past Steer.
Posh were struggling and there seemed no way back on 27 minutes when Steer’s awful pass put Edun in trouble. He tugged Hoskins who flopped to win a free kick. The left-back then reacted stupidly to mild provocation from McGeehan and shoved him in the face to leave referee Simon Mather no option but to show a red card.
Hoskins missed a presentable chance from the free kick, but was celebrating eight minutes later as Posh again conceded possession too close to their own goal. Oscar Wallin was the culprit this time, although he was probably fouled first before he grabbed Costelloe’s shirt. Hoskins sent Steer the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Posh had sent on Carl Johnston to play left-back at 1-0 with Mothersille making way, but the errors kept coming. Dornelly’s failure to deal with a routine cross led to a tap-in third for Costelloe four minutes before the break.
Ferguson’s reaction was to take three big-name players off with Archie Collins, Hector Kyprianou and Poku leaving. To their credit Posh dug in, but Cobblers had already done much more than they had needed to and eased off considerably while keeping Posh at arm’s length
Ricky Jade-Jones ran himself into the ground for Posh and had a couple of less than accurate or powerful efforts on goal, while Cobblers still carried the greater threat. Katongo made a fine save off the line and Steer made a decent save to keep out visiting substitute Tom Eaves.
A Posh sub Ryan De Havilland did unleash a searing 35 yarder that Burge fumbled, but there was very little else to get excited about,
Eaves gained his revenge on Steer when given a free header from a free-kick in the 90th minute, a moment that rather summed up a one-sided game as a whole.
Next up for Posh is two games with Birmingham City, which is a terrifying prospect all of a sudden.
Posh: Jed Steer, Tayo Edun, Jadel Katongo, Oscar Wallin, James Dornelly, Hector Kyprianou (sub Ryan De Havilland, 46 mins), Archie Collins (sub Mo Susoho 46 mins), Abraham Odoh, Malik Mothersille (sub Carl Johnston, 32 mins), Kwame Poku (sub Can Hayes, 46 mins), Ricky-Jade Jones (sub Gustav Lindgren 77 mins).
Unused subs: Nicholas Bilokapic, Emmanuel Fernandez.
Cobblers: Lee Burge, Luke Mbete (sub Max Dyche.72 mins), Nesta Guinness-Walker, Aaron McGowan (sub Akin Odimayo, 76 mins), Terry Taylor, Ben Perry, Mitch Pinnock, TJ Eyoma, Cameron McGeehan (sub Tom Eaves, 65 mins), Dara Costelloe (sub Tyler Roberts, 65 mins), Sam Hoskins (sub Tarique Fosu, 74 mins).
Unused subs: Nik Tzanev, Will Hondermarck.
GOALS: Cobblers – Hoskins (16 mins & 35 mins), Costelloe (41 mins), Eaves (90 mins).
SENDING OFF: Edun -Violent Conduct.
Cobblers – McGeehan (unsportsmanlike conduct).
REFEREE: Simon Mather 5.
ATTENDANCE: 9,702 (1,609 Cobblers).