Peterborough United star convinced a winning run is not far away

Sammie Szmodics of Peterborough United is fouled by Leo Ostigard of Stoke City. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

Posh were frustrated at their inability to turn a dominance of possession into goals, or even shots on target, as they slipped to a 2-0 reverse at Stoke City yesterday (November 20).

Posh recorded 62% possession, won the corner count 9-3, won the shot count 14-7 and yet failed to make Stoke City goalkeeper Adam Davies work for his clean sheet. Posh delivered just one attempt on target all game.

“Look we’re not hiding from the fact we lost away from home again,” Szmodics said. “But we have to take some positives from this game.

“We dominated possession against a big club who will be up there at the end of the season on their own pitch. We competed really well. We gave it a real go and it was just the bit at the end that let us down.

“I know it sounds stupid, but the manager said there is a right way to lose and this was it. We don’t lack belief as a group and we showed that today. It wasn’t good enough ultimately, but a win will be like a bus for us. Once one turns up others will follow. We can go on a roll in this division.

“Of course we’re disappointed. There are things we have to put right like our decision-making. We sometimes shoot when we should cross and cross when we should shoot. The manager will never moan at us if we have a shot. He urged us to shoot at every opportunity in the second half.

“We lost to a deflected goal early on and a counter attack when we were chasing the game late on. Luck wasn’t with us again as the deflection took the ball into the only place it could have gone in, but we gave a good account of ourselves. We didn’t fold as we might have done earlier in the season. We stayed resilient and they never broke through us again.

“It was a good away performance. The fans stayed with us. They were brilliant and gave us a standing ovation, and another day it could have finished 0-0 or 3-0 to us.”

Posh are back in the relegation zone again on goal difference after Hull City’s win over Birmingham City. Hull are away at Cardiff on Wednesday when Posh play at Blackburn Rovers (November 24).