Peterborough United made a winning start in their defence of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy title thanks to substitute Bradley Ihionvien, who scored what turned out to be the winner in a 2-1 victory at Gillingham.

The 20-year-old announced himself to the Posh faithful in brilliant style with a thunderous shot from range less than 15 minutes after coming on for his club debut.

The surprise deadline day signing from Colchester showed no hesitation to power an effort right into the top corner to put Posh 2-0 up after Ricky-Jade Jones has opened his account for the season in the first half.

The goal was a deserved reward for a strong second half performance from Posh, which was only slightly blemished by Elliott Nevitt’s consolation header deep into added time. That goal meant Posh’s wait for a first clean sheet of the campaign goes on.

Bradley Ihionvien fires in for Peterborough United against Gillingham. Photo: Joe Dent.

placeholder image — Bradley Ihionvien fires in for Peterborough United against Gillingham. Photo: Joe Dent.

There was no time for Gillingham to find an equaliser, however, as Posh moved to the top of Group D of the Southern Section.

The win sees Posh leapfrog Stevenage, who beat Crystal Palace U21s 1-0 last week, into top spot and, realistically, in need of only three points from their final two fixtures, both at home, to reach the knockout stages.

Posh boss Darren Ferguson stuck to his promise to revamp his forward line with only Abraham Odoh keeping his starting place from Saturday’s home defeat at the hands of Wrexham.

Chris Conn-Clarke, Cian Hayes and Ricky-Jade Jones were all promoted from the substitutes’ bench with Joel Randall, Kwame Poku and Malik Mothersille heading in the other direction.

There were seven changes in total with Nicholas Bilokapic, James Dornelly, Jadel Kantono and Doney O’Brien-Brady also stepping up in place of Jed Steer, Sam Curtis, Oscar Wallin and Hector Kyprianou. Curtis and Kyprianou are on international duty.

Gills boss Mark Bonner, made even more drastic changes to his starting line-up, nine of them.

It was the hosts who made the more assured start though and controlled the game for large periods, but they were stunned by Posh's capability on the counter attack.

Against the run of play in the opening stages, Jones gave Posh the lead after 12 minutes by sweeping home Chris Conn-Clarke’s low cross from the left.

Gillingham hit back almost instantly though when Ethan Coleman got on the end of a Bradley Dack free-kick and headed only inches wide of Bilokapic’s near post.

The Posh keeper was forced into sharp saves from right-back Harry Webster’s shot across the keeper and Joseph’s Gbode powerful 30-yard effort.

For all of the openings, it was Posh that should have gone into the break with a two-goal lead when Conn-Clarke made an excellent run down the middle of the pitch and picked out Jones in the box, but unfortunately the forward could not beat the keeper for his second of the match.

At half time, Ferguson brought on Malik Mothersille for the ineffective Abraham Odoh on the left wing and his pace began to turn the game in Posh’s favour.

Only a superb tackle from Alex Giles denied him a tap-in following a flowing Posh move from back to front just before the hour mark after Hayes had also forced a save out of the home keeper from a tight angle.

After 60 minutes, Ferguson sent for further reinforcements as Kwame Poku replaced Hayes and Ihionvien came on for his first action in a Posh shirt for Jones.

As GIllingham started to push hard for an equaliser, they were almost handed it after 73 minutes when Bilokapic showed poor judgement to chase a long ball forward right to the corner of his box.

Armani Little skipped past the hesitant Posh keeper and sent a ball across the box to Gbode. A couple of Posh defenders were able to throw themselves in between the ball and the goal to make the shot into an empty net harder for Gbode and Bilokapic would have been the most relieved man in the stadium to see him hit the ball wide.

With that chance still fresh in the minds of the home side, Ihinovien popped up after a low key first 15 minutes. He received a pass from Poku, took one touch to get away from his marker, one touch to set himself and with his third touch absolutely rifled the ball into the top corner, with his left foot, for a stunning debut goal.

That looked to be enough for Posh. but the hosts weren’t done yet and George Lapslie and Jack Nolan pressed Bilokapic into action once again before Nevitt finally beat the Posh keeper in the third of three added minutes with a header into the bottom corner from Max Clark’s cross.

Posh: Nicholas Bilokapic, James Dornelly, Jack Sparkes, Emmanuel Fernandez, Jadel Katongo (sub Ollie Rose, 76 mins), Archie Collins, Donay O’Brien-Brady, Chris Conn-Clarke (sub Joel Randall, 67 mins), Cian Hayes (sub Kwame Poku 60 mins), Ricky-Jade Jones (sub Bradley Ihionvien, 60 mins), Abraham Odoh (sub Malik Mothersille, 46 mins).

Not used: Will Blackmore, David Ajiboye.

Gillingham: Luca Ashby-Hammond, Harry Webster, Max Ehmer, Alex Giles (sub Shadrach Ogie, 80 mins), Max Clark, Ethan Coleman (sub Armani Little, 60 mins), Johnny Williams, Bradley Dack (sub Jack Nolan, 46 mins), Jayden Clarke (sub George Lapslie, 60 mins), Joseph Gbode, Josh Andrews (sub Elliott Nevitt, 46 mins).

Not used: Glenn Morris, Marcus Wiley.

GOALS: Posh – Jones (12), Ihionvien (75)

Gillingham – Nevitt (90+3)

Cautions: Posh – Dornelly (dissent)

Gillingham – Dack (dissent), Ehmer (foul)

Referee: Craig Hicks.

Attendance: 1,604 (263 Posh fans)