Peterborough United midfielder credits understanding of the London Road pitch for open goal

Hector Kyprianou of Peterborough United applauds the Posh fans at full time. Photo: Joe Dent.

Ahead of kick-off, the midfielder told his teammates to make sure that they were following in shots due to the bobbly nature of the Posh pitch on Saturday and the prospect of the goalkeepers making mistakes.

His advice proved to be valuable as it was Harrison Burrows following in an Archie Collins shot from the edge of the box which enabled him to beat visiting keeper James Beadle to the second ball and square it for Kyprianou to tap home.

The goal was Kyprianou’s fourth of the season. Goals from Ricky-Jade Jones and a second in a week for Ryan De Havilland completed a comprehensive victory after a period early in the second half where Posh had to soak up pressure.

He said: “We mentioned the pitch before the game and how bobbly it was so we had to play in the right areas but with the quality we have, we’re always confident and we played some nice football.

“The pitch wasn’t great so we knew that there was a chance of the keeper spilling the ball, I told the boys before the game to make sure they followed up shots and luckily H had the vision and composure to square it back to me to put it away.

“It was always going to be edgy at the start but once we found out feet and worked out the areas to exploit, we did it really well; took the lead and held on to it.

“Whoever plays in centre-back, they’re so composed on the ball and that helps us in midfield and out wide to take up positions as we know they can find us.

“2-0 is a bit of a difficult of a scoreline because it can go either way and we said at half time that we need to get the next goal. It’s difficult, when we’re on the pitch we don’t know whether to play or go longer, we’ve got to figure it out ourselves in that moment but after the first period we dealt with it well and exploited them on the counter attack.

"I’m really happy for Ryan as well. He puts the graft in every day in training and he deserves that goal. He’s always in the right position when the ball is wide and it was a great finish.”