Peterborough United suffer Covid-19 absences as well as an opening day defeat

Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson has revealed four players were ruled out of today’s disappointing 2-0 defeat in the League One opener at Accrington Stanley for Covid-19 related reasons (September 12).
Dan Butler of Peterborough United takes on Dion Charles of Accrington Stanley. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.Dan Butler of Peterborough United takes on Dion Charles of Accrington Stanley. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.
Dan Butler of Peterborough United takes on Dion Charles of Accrington Stanley. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

First-team regulars Reece Brown and Siriki Dembele both tested positive. They are now self-isolating for 14 days as are Idris Kanu and Bobby Copping who haven’t tested positive, but who live with Dembele.

Ferguson refused to blame the absences for a poor performance at the WHAM Stadium, one which the home side won thanks to two great strikes.

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Jonson Clarke-Harris started the game along with fellow summer signings Ethan Hamilton and Sammie Szmodics.

Posh boss Darren Ferguson.Posh boss Darren Ferguson.
Posh boss Darren Ferguson.

“It’s just another thing we have to cope with as managers,” Ferguson said. “But the health of the players has to come first.

“It did effect the starting line-up, but we had enough good players on the pitch to play better than we did.

“We just didn’t perform at all in the first half. We seemed happy to play at Accrington’s pace and we kept going too long too early which was actually the opposite of what we had worked on. We needed to play through the thirds and failing to do that was a disappointment.

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“We were better in the second-half without creating any clearcut chances. We had half chances, but we couldn’t stick one away and we lost to two high quality goals.

“They both came at times when we were controlling the game without playing that well.

“It’s important this season to start well because who knows how long this season will last? We can’t afford to drop points like we did today and now we face two games against teams who will be up there at the end of the season.

“We have to find a way of playing with the urgency we showed in the second half from the start. We have to be braver on the ball and pass through teams.

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“We knew how they would line-up and we prepared well for it, but the wing-backs gave me very little, delivering just three crosses between them.

“Jonson Clarke-harris is a good player and his fitness levels were good today as he got stronger as the game wore on. Sammie Szmodics also did well. He was our brightest attacker.

“But we didn’t carve out as many chances as I would expect in a game of football and we didn’t play with the tempo I would want.”

Posh host Fleetwood next Saturday (September 19) before completing their September programme in League One with a trip to Sunderland (September 26).