Peterborough United hold on for draw at Colchester despite poor second half showing

Posh left with a 1-1 draw, no thanks to a second half showing that saw them overrun for large periods.

Playing a pre-season friendly in such uncharacteristically grim July conditions did not help the quality of the game nor the crowd figure, but Posh did get off to a strong start with Jonson Clarke-Harris tapping in a Joe Tomlinson delivery after ten minutes.

They held that lead in a game that lacked tempo until the break before the hosts charged out of the blocks in the second, leaving Posh chasing shadows.

A poor throw from goalkeeper Will Blackmore put Romoney Crichlow in trouble and led the defender into giving away a penalty to level the scores, but Posh also survived several scares in a second half that Colchester would have been disappointed not to score more than once in had there been anything at stake.

Such was Darren Ferguson’s ire with the performance, he brought his planned second line-up on almost five minutes early – not that it led to an improvement in performance.

The fans who did brave the conditions though were given their first glimpses of Nicholas Bilokapic and Peter Kioso in Posh colours.

In order to get the whole squad prepared for the new season, Posh began the match in a three-at-the-back formation with largely the side that played the final 30 minutes in last week’s 3-1 defeat to Luton at St George’s Park.

Central defender Ronnie Edwards came in for forward Ricky-Jade Jones, who was not in either squad, and triallist Fynn Talley was replaced by new goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic for his first Posh outing. Frankie Kent was also a notable omission amidst rumours of a move to Scottish football.

After a low-key start Posh surged into life after nine minutes when Joe Tomlinson flashed a perfectly weighted low ball across the box, which was poked home with ease by Clarke-Harris a few yards out.

That began a period of Posh control, but while the ball was being popped around, it wasn’t at any real tempo. The only thrust came from the arms of Colchester’s Samson Tovide as he got into a shoving match with both Edwards and Josh Knight following a foul.

On the half hour mark, Posh fans got their first look at Peter Kioso, coming on at right wing-back to replace James Dornelly in a pre-planned change. He later moved to right-back as Posh made wholesale changes.

Noah Chilvers - a player many Posh fans have expressed a desire to see make the move to London Road - had new man Bilokapic diving with a powerful long-range effort from 30 yards. The Aussie had it well covered, but he was earlier given a chance to show off his footwork with a nice turn to evade an on-rushing Brad Ihionvien.

It was another Colchester player that came close to scoring a second goal right at the end of the half, but it was at the wrong end as Tom Dallison almost managed to deflect a Kwame Poku shot over his own goalkeeper, in the end it was just over the bar.

The second half began at a much-higher pace at least when Kai Corbett forced Owen Goodman into a sharp save down low from a 30-yard free-kick from the left. Moments later, he did well to intercept a backpass, did everything right to round the keeper but somehow managed to plant his effort against the post.

Ihionvien was soon left with the same feeling when he spurned two excellent chances to draw his side level in quick succession. First he skied a shot from a few yards out over the bar, followed by dragging a shot into the side-netting when left unmarked just a few yards from goal.

The onslaught continued despite Posh bringing on a fresh line-up after 55 minutes, and when Blackmore put Romoney Crichlow under pressure with a quick throw out, the defender who hadn’t been expecting the ball, lost it and hauled down his man in the box. Chilvers duly smashed the penalty down the middle to level the scores.

From kick-off almost, half-time sub Blackmore had to push a Chilvers 40-yard strike over the bar and a few minutes later was grateful to Kioso for a sliding tackle which prevented Ihionvein from finally getting on the scoresheet after he robbed a dawdling Jeando Fuchs.

Ephron Mason-Clark finally had a moment for Posh when he stung the palms of Goodman from the edge of the box, but the visitors remained in the ascendency for the most part, waiting until 77 minutes to bring on a whole new 11, likely due to their level of dominance.

It was a fleeting moment though as Colchester pushed for a winner and it was almost provided by John Akinde four minutes from time, but Crichlow made an excellent tackle as he bore down on goal.

Posh first 60 mins: Nicholas Bilokapic (sub Will Blackmore 45mins, Joe Tomlinson, Ronnie Edwards, Emmanuel Fernandez, Josh Knight, James Dornelly (sub Peter Kioso 30mins), Ryan De Havilland, Hector Kyprianou, Kai Corbett, Kwame Poku, Jonson Clarke-Harris

Posh last 30 mins: Will Blackmore, Harrison Burrows, Charlie O’Connell, Romoney Crichlow, Peter Kioso, Jeando Fuchs, Archie Collins, David Ajiboye, Joel Randall, Ephron Mason-Clark, Kabongo Tshimanga

Colchester first 77 mins: Owen Goodman, Jayden Fevrier, Tom Dallison, Connor Hall, Nico Lawrence, Arthur Read, Ellis Iandolo, Noah Chilvers, Mauro Bandeira, Samson Tovide, Brad Ihionvien

Colchester final 13 mins: Owen Goodman, Will Greenidge, Ronnie Nelson, Al-Amin Kazeem, Marley Marshall Miranda, Alex Newby, Chay Cooper, Matt Jay, Tom Hopper, John Akinde, Frankie Terry.

Goals: Posh- Clarke-Harris (9)

Colchester: Chilvers (61)