Wallin and Conn-Clarke impress as Peterborough United pip League Two opponents

Opposition players have spent plenty of pre-season putting the ball into their own net and County’s Matthew Platt obliged early in the second-half of this encounter after meeting a cross from Posh forward Chris Conn-Clarke.

It turned out to be the only goal of a lacklustre encounter with League Two opposition. Both teams looked likely to be glad to see the end of the ‘phoney war’ with the serious stuff due to kick off next weekend.

Conn-Clarke’s preferred position is as a ‘number 10’, but he’s unlikely to wrest that spot from Joel Randall just yet so manager Darren Ferguson deployed him on the left of the front three, where there is a vacancy following the departure of Ephron Mason-Clark to the Championship.

Conn-Clark enjoyed moments of promise, although had problems with his final ball, as the stronger of two starting line-ups on double-header day struggled to impose themselves.

The formation remained the same from last season, but there were many changes in personnel, most notably in the shape of a back four with three summer signings in it. Swedish central defender Oscar Wallin was the pick of them as he showed the composure on the ball the Posh manager loves, while Friday signing Sam Curtis delivered a promising debut until his second-half substitution.

Conn-Clarke shot just wide on eight minutes, but County had the better first-half chances after that with Alassana Jatta denied well by Posh ‘keeper Jed Steer and Aaron Nemane shooting just wide.

Posh controlled most of the second-half though with left-back Jack Sparkes hitting the side-netting from 25 yards with a decent strike.

Posh: Steer, Curtis (sub Sumnall, 55) Sparkes, Fernandez, Wallin, O’Brien-Brady, Collins, Conn-Clarke, Poku, Randall, Jones.