POSH MATCH REACTION: Westley wanted an early kill after smelling blood

Posh were exceptional in the opening half-an-hour and deservedly led through Erhun Oztumer’s sixth goal of the seasaon, but Gillingham scored twice in the second-half through Luke Norris and Bradley Dack and the three points took them back to the top of the table.

Posh have dropped a place to seventh after losing for the first time in 2016. Westley blamed the lack of a ruthless streak for the defeat.

Westley said: “We are a young side and young players don’t perhaps smell blood when they have an opponent on the ropes.

“We were so dominant in the first-half hour, but we needed a second goal, They were chasing shadows for a lot of that first-half, but they are a side with a great home record so they were always going to have a spell.

“And when it came they were more clinical than us.

“There was still a lot to be positive about. It’s easy to get too emotional after a defeat. There were very good signs out there. The team played very well for long periods.

We had 60% possession and 20 attempts on goal, twice the number of attempts they had, and some of the football we played was good enough to win any game.”

Westley handed starts to new signings Harry Toffolo and Shaquile Coulthirst and introduced another, Adil Nabi, from the substitutes’ bench. The manager was more pleased with their performances than that of referee James Adcock.

Westley added: “The new players gave us a good glimpse of what they will give us. Shaq gave us the pace we had with Conor Washington and Harry gave us balance on the left, Adil had some good touches as well.

“We were denied a stonewall penalty in the second-half as well. Lee Angol stood his ground and was barged in the back and it wasn’t the only decision that went in favour of the home crowd.

“You plan for that and expect, but it doesn’t make it any easier to bear.”

Posh host second-placed Burton Albion at the ABAX Stadium on Tuesday (January 26).