Peterborough United snatch late point at Milton Keynes despite flat performance

An 87th minute strike from substitute Conn-Clarke spared Posh’s blushes and secured Posh a 1-1 draw at Stadium MK after trailing for most of the match.

MK came into the game winless and will be disappointed to squander this opportunity after holding the initiative for much of the match. They created more chances in a game where Posh failed to convert a fair portion of the ball into meaningful chances.

Aaron Collins was not picked up in the box after half an hour to give MK the lead and Posh rarely looked like threatening that lead until Conn-Clarke’s effort drifted into the corner with three minutes to play.

It’s five points in six matches for both of these sides now and this game did little to suggest they can hope for much better than staying up at this level this season.

Luke Williams opted to bring in Evan Weir and the returning Owura Edwards in place of Harley Mills and Ethan Williams. David Okagbue also took his expected place in the back four over the injured Tom O’Connor.

Things started brightly for Posh and the wide men were causing problems. The accuracy of cross rather than the ability to beat their full-backs proved to be the problem though.

The best chance came when Edwards pounced on a defensive mix-up, he raced in and claimed the ball after debutant ‘keeper Will Dennis raced out of his box. He seemed to take an age to release the ball to Harry Leonard though and by the time he could get a shot away, he had sprinted back into position at his near post.

No other chance of note troubled the MK goal before the hosts seemed to wake up and take control of the game around the 20 minute mark.

After half an hour they were ahead when a cross into the box from Callum Paterson was deflected onto the bar via two Posh players. It fell beautifully for Aaron Collins to shoot, his own effort smashed the post but went into the net.

They nearly scored just a minute later but Bass was sharp to push away Dan Crowley’s snapshot after another Paterson cross.

Collins almost grabbed a second in the closing minutes of the half but nodded a Crowley free-kick just wide.

Instead of reacting quickly, Williams strangely waited until the 51st minute to make a triple chance and brought Harry Ashfield, Brandon Khela and Harley Mills onto the pitch for Weir, Ben Woods and Harrison Jones.

That did seem to have some impact as Posh had their brightest spell of the match when a couple of runs from Edwards caused real problems. His crosses allowed Bolu Shofowoke to get a header on target and well as Leonard to get a shot away in the six-yard box that needed two bodies to two defenders to make the block.

MK seemed to recover from that and created a wonderful chance to put the match to bed but Crowley fired over when in one-on-one.

He’d live to regret that as Edwards hit an effort off the outside of the post with 15 minutes to play before Conn-Clarke floated a ball across goal. It appeared to be a cross intended for Danny Ormerod but it nestled right into the corner instead.

Posh: Alex Bass 6, Evan Weir 4 (sub Harley Mills, 51 mins), Josh Feeney 5, David Okagbue 5, James Dornelly 6, Liam Kelly 6 (sub Chris Conn-Clarke, 78 mins), Ben Woods 5 (sub Brandon Khela, 51 mins), Harrison Jones 5 (sub Harry Ashfield, 51 mins), Owura Edwards 7, Bolu Shofowoke 5 (sub Danny Ormerod, 57 mins), Harry Leonard 6.

Not used: Collin Andeng-Ndi, Ethan Williams.

MK: Will Dennis, Gethin Jones (sub Marvin Ekpitata, 60 mins), Charlie Goode, Curtis Nelson, Cohen Bramall, Dan Crowley (sub Jay Matete, 73 mins), Alex Gilbey, Ryan Wintle, Callum Paterson, Sam Nombe, Aaron Collins (sub Rushain Hepburn-Murphy)

Not used: Craig MacGillivray, Dan Barlaser, Eli Campbell, Ibrahim Fullah.

Bookings: MK – Bramall (foul).

Goals: MK – Collins (29 mins).

Ref: Scott Oldham

Attendance: 10,006 (approx 2,500 Posh).