Peterborough United blown away by devastating burst of scoring from Derby County

It had all started so well for Posh who were the better side, ironically until talking the lead through Jonson Clarke-Harris.

That 26th minute strike, after a lovely sweeping move, merely inspired the visitors who struck four times in the last 16 minutes against a team who had conceded just two goals in their four previous outings.

Martyn Waghorn helped himself to a rapid hat-trick with all of his finishes ending up in the same corner of the Posh net.

To their credit Posh kept trying to play their football, but they couldn’t find a finish until the 91st minutes when Kwame Poku struck.

It was too little too late as Derby ran out deserved winners thanks to their superiority in both penalty areas.

A derby defeat the previous weekend didn’t persuade Posh boss Darren Ferguson to change his starting line-up, while Derby chief Paul Warne left his two Friday signings on the substitutes’ bench.

Former Posh striker Conor Washington did start for the Rams alongside another ex-London Road man Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.

It was of course a likely last stand for this Posh team unless chairman Darragh MacAnthony becomes irritated and stubborn at the size of bids for the club’s available star players.

Stubbornness wasn’t a feature of the Posh team in the first-half though. They played well going forward, looked like likely to run rings round their visitors for 10 minutes, took the lead with a fine goal, but then fell apart as Derby delivered a dynamic and deadly spell before the break.

Posh so miserly at the back so far this season fell apart as soon as Derby turned up the heat, spooked perhaps after falling behind.

Jonson Clarke-Harris both started and finished the move thet saw Posh move in front in the 24th minute. He was isolated up front when a Ronnie Edwards clearance landed at his feet, but won control and laid the ball off to Harrison Burrows.

Burrows advanced, slipped in Ephron Mason-Clark whose low cross was bundled home by Clarke-Harris from close range.

But then Posh’s world fell in. Derby had mixed up their attacks with long and short passes. They had willing runners up front and out wide where Mandez-Laing had a field day against tentative defenders.

A left-wing cross from livewire midfielder Liam Thompson took a nick off Peter Kioso, but it still required a tidy first-time finish from Waghorn to draw the Rams level.

A corner taken short to Mendez-Laing and a precise cross was then headed home by centre-back Eiran Cashin and Mendez-Laing was then allowed to stroll forward to shoot from 30 yards before shooting. It was a tame effort, but Waghorn, who had also been left unattended, deflected into the corner.

And Waghorn found the same corner of the net in the final minute with a curler after three passes had split Posh wide open.

Such an interval scoreline looked unlikely as Posh tore into Derby from the off. A fierce Clarke-Harris cross was palmed to safety by visiting goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith as Mason-Clark waited to pounce.

And Clarke-Harris then saw a 10-yard strike beaten away by Wildsmith and Poku managed to miskick as he found his way onto a Clarke-Harris pass. This all happened in the opening 10 minutes, but the last part of the first-half proved far more decisive thanks to power, pace and some clinical finishing.

Posh almost pulled a goal back at the start of the second-half when a corner reached Clarke-Harris, but his shot was blocked.

Randall then shot over from the edge of the penalty area after a fine move involving Poku. The difference in finishing between the two sides was laid bare in that one moment.

Posh made two substitutions just past the hour mark and they should have pulled a goal back within a minute, but Clarke-Harris made a right hash of a lovely Burrows cross.

Moments earlier Mason-Clark’s fine run and shot was thwarted by a fine defensive block from Curtis Nelson. The difference in the defending of the two sides was laid bare in that one moment.

And proof that it wasn’t going to be Posh’s day arrived 20 minutes from time when a speculative volley from substitute Ricky-Jade Jones beat Wildsmith, but cannoned into the crossbar.

It all proved too much for Ferguson who received two yellow cards in quick succession from referee Lewis Smith, who to be fair was excellent throughout the contest.

Posh kept plugging away. Poku couldn’t quite get enough on a Jones cross and another replacement Josh Knight saw a shot from a set-piece hacked off the goalline.

Posh did get the goal their second-half efforts deserved when a 20-yard Knight shot was saved by Wildsmith only for Poku to convert the rebound.

Posh: Nicholas Bilokapic, Harrison Burrows, Romoney Crichlow (sub Josh Knight, 63 mins), Ronnie Edwards, Peter Kioso, Hector Kyprianou, Archie Collins, Joel Randall (sub Ricky-Jade Jones, 63 mins), Kwame Poku, Ephron Mason-Clark, Jonson Clarke-Harris.

Unused subs: Fynn Talley, Joe Tomlinson, Ryan De Havilland, David Ajiboye, Kabongo Tshimanga

Derby: Joe Wildsmith, Craig Forsyth, Eiran Cashin, Curtis Nelson, Jake Rooney, Nat Mendez-Laing (sub Callum Elder, 68 mins), Conor Hourihane (sub Tyrese Fornah, 81 mins), Liam Thompson, Korey Smith, Conor Washington (sub James Collins, 64 mins), Martyn Waghorn (sub Tyreece John-Jules, 81 mins).

Unused subs: Josh Vickers, Sonny Bradley, Ben Radcliffe.

Goals: Posh – Clarke-Harris (24 mins), Poku (90 + 1 min).

Derby – Waghorn (29 mins, 41 mins & 45 mins), Cashin (37 mins).

Sending off: Posh – Ferguson (manager, second yellow, dissent).

Cautions: Posh – Burrows (foul), Kioso (foul), Ferguson (manager, dissent).

Derby – Forsyth (foul).

Referee: Lewis Smith 9.

Attendance: 11,733 (3,896 Derby fans)