Frustrated Peterborough United held to draw at Steve Evans' Stevenage

Posh came in off the back of a 4-0 win over Deeping on Tuesday (July 12) and started brightly but could not find a way past former ‘keeper Aaron Chapman before falling behind from the spot. Jonson Clarke-Harris popped up with his third goal in two days after the break but the game then largely petered out and if anything, Stevenage were the more likely winners in the closing stages.

Posh lined up with just one change from the side that played the final 30 minutes at Deeping Rangers on Tuesday (July 12). It was a surprise start for Sammie Szmodics, who was expected to miss out through illness. Ben Thompson did miss out with a knock though.

Grant McCann’s men faced off against three of their former players with summer signings Aaron Chapman and Carl Piergianni starting and Michael Bostwick being introduced from the bench in the second half.

More importantly than any of the action though, Grant McCann left the match sweating on the fitness of Nathan Thompson, who was forced off in the 23rd minute after going down. He hobbled off with the physios concentrating their efforts on his knee.

He was replaced at centre half by summer signing for the Under-23 side, MacKenzie Lamb at centre half.

Posh had the better of the early chances and were nearly ahead after three minutes but Thompson couldn’t direct Joe Ward’s nice cross in at the back-post.

Just three minutes later, Ward nearly scored himself after neat link-up with Szmodics but Chapman made an excellent save at his near post.

Szmodics then forced Chapman to push his effort from range over the bar but from then Posh’s bright early start began to fade and they Stevenage became a threat on the break.

Just a minute after making a sharp save from Kane Smith, Cartwright was picking the ball out of his net from Luke Norris’s penalty after Elliott List was bundled over in the area by Ronnie Edwards.

Posh were up against a former goalkeeper in inspired form when they did manage to make something of the good areas they were getting into. He denied Szmodics down low following an impressive pick-out from Jonson Clarke-Harris as Posh looked for a quick response.

As the half came to a close, they were caught out by the visitors again and had to rely on Cartwright to deny Elliott.

An almost instant response followed in the second half with Clarke-Harris heading in his third goal in two days after an inch-perfect cross from the left by-line from Harrison Burrows.

Posh managed to get into some good areas but struggled to test Chapman before the wholesale changes came on the hour.

Nine of the side that started at Deeping came on with Andrew Oluwabori in place of Jack Marriott and Charlie O’Connell in place of Joel Randall in a change of system.

Stevenage followed with nine changes of their own and seemed to deal with the upheaval the better with Danny Rose heading just wide a rare shot on goal for either side in the second half. He was then gifted another opportunity when O’Connell wanted too much time right in front of his own goal but Rose’s tackle-come-shot hit the outside of the post.

Posh rarely threatened after the changes were made and would have been relieved to hear the final whistle with the hosts coming on strong at the end.

Posh first 60 minutes: Cartwright, McGlinchey, Edwards, Thompson (Lamb 23mins), Ward, Burrows, Kyprianou, Jones, Ajiboye, Szmodics, Clarke-Harris

Posh final 30 minutes: Bergstrom, Tomlinson, Kent, O’Connell, Knight, Mensah, Fuchs, Jack Taylor, Broom, Joe Taylor, Oluwabori