Peterborough United survive an almighty fright on Halloween weekend to seal impressive victory at Blackpool

Tickets to Posh matches should come with a health warning.

So far this season, this team has fashioned a reputation for getting embroiled in tight matches and having to hold onto one goals leads, with varying degrees of success.

On this occasion though, a three goal lead in, what for 60 minutes, was arguably the best Posh performance of the season, threatened not to be enough even against 10 men.

Just when the travelling Posh contingent were ready to finally relax watching their side as Kwame Poku, Harrison Burrows and Ricky-Jade Jones had fired them into a 3-0 lead, back came Blackpool with two goals in six minutes and the nails, which have already been chewed to nothing this season, were taking a battering once again. Suddenly a first-half failure from the spot by Ephron Mason-Clark was looking crucial.

What followed was a nervy conclusion to the game before Mason-Clark redeemed himself by pouncing halfway through nine minutes of stoppage time to seal perhaps Posh’s best victory of the season away at side who began the day just a place below them in the table.

Manager Darren Ferguson largely kept faith with his selections at Port Vale, once again preferring Ricky-Jade Jones ahead of Jonson Clarke-Harris and Jadel Katongo lined up in midfield in place of the suspended Archie Collins, after coming onto replace him in midweek. Joel Randall, however, dropped to the bench to be replaced by David Ajiboye with Poku switching to the number 10 role.

Posh made a fast start to the match, controlling the ball for large parts before taking an early lead when Harrison Burrows broke from deep and played in Mason-Clark on the right, his cross was masterfully touched down by Poku on the right of the box and after another touch to work the angle, he buried it into the bottom corner across goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw.

The hosts were not allowed into the game in the early stages and it was only a lapse of concentration from Ronnie Edwards in his own box that led to their first shot, when CJ Hamilton closed down the Posh man and found Kylian Kouassi, only for him to drag his effort from close range well wide.

With just over half an hour gone, Posh were then afforded a rare chance to really move clear in a game when Matt Pennington clumsily took down Mason-Clark in the box as the Posh man tried to work space to curl an effort at goal.

He hopped up to take the spot-kick himself, but wasted the golden opportunity with an effort at a perfect height for Grimshaw and closer to the middle of the goal than than corner.

The fear of what might happen if Posh failed to build on a lead again sat with fans all half-time but those fears were allayed immediately in the second half when Jones used his pace to close down Olly Casey when he was trying to chest down a high ball.

As Jones threatened to come away with the ball, panic set in and the centre-back bundled him down from behind on the edge of the box.

Casey was quickly dismissed by referee Ben Atkinson for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity and from the resulting free-kick, Burrows curled the ball into the bottom corner to confirm the dream start to the half.

Posh thought they were cruising to victory after an hour when Jones justified his selection after being found in the box by Poku following a strong run half the length of the pitch and slotting a delightful effort through the legs of Grimshaw and into the net.

That would have been too easy for this season’s outfit though as just two minutes later, they came crashing back down to earth as an unmarked Kenny Dougall powered a header into the net from the edge of the six yard box.

That was even after Bilokapic had pulled off a fantastic double save, first from Dom Thompson and then from Sonny Carey who both unleashed powerful efforts from outside the box to keep the score at 2-0.

The panic really set in four minutes later though when Posh yet again failed to stop a cross from the left. Bilokapic was equal to the first effort across goal but no one had picked up Carey and he was able to fire into an empty net.

For the next 10 minutes a ‘mini Hillsborough’ appeared to be on the cards before Posh were able to get a bit of control back into the game. Zak Sturge, Romoney Crichlow and Ryan De Havilland were all brought on as Posh looked to dig deep to defend their lead before Mason-Clark finally relieved the pressure in the 94th minute.

Peter Kioso was the architect as he closed down full-back James Husband, won the ball back and powered to the edge of the box where he picked out Mason-Clark. He stayed cool, rounded the keeper and slotted into an empty net.

In true Posh style, that wasn’t even the end of it though as straight from the nint kick-off of the game, Blackpool broke again down the left and saw Jordan Rhodes strike the crossbar with a header that bounced up off the turf.

Posh: Nicholas Bilokapic, Harrison Burrows (sub Zak Sturge 65mins), Ronnie Edwards, Josh Knight, Peter Kioso, Jadel Katongo (sub Ryan De Havilland 76 mins), Hector Kyprianou, Kwame Poku, Ephron Mason-Clark, David Ajiboye (sub Romoney Crichlow 86 mins), Ricky-Jade Jones (sub Jonson Clarke-Harris 86 mins).

Not used: Fynn Talley, Joel Randall, Jacob Wakeling.

Blackpool: Dan Grimshaw, James Husband, Matt Pennington, Sonny Carey, Kenny Dougall, Olly Casey, Dom Thompson (Shane Lavery 88 mins), Kylian Kouassi (sub Karamako Dembele 51 mins), Tashan Oakley-Boothe (sub Marvin Ekpiteta 60 mins), CJ Hamilton (sub Owen Dale 75 mins), Jordan Rhodes

Not used: Rich O’Donnell, Callum Connolly, Albie Morgan.

Bookings - Blackpool: Husband (foul), Dougall (dissent), Crichley (dissent)

Posh: Burrows (foul), Knight (foul), Katongo (foul)

Red cards - Blackpool: Casey (foul)

Att: 10,684 (approx 850 Posh).

Ref: Ben Atkinson 7