Peterborough United's frightening front four take Chelsea's kids apart

Ivan Toney of Peterborough United in action with Josh Grant of Chelsea - Mandatory by-line: Joe Dent/JMP - 09/01/2019 - FOOTBALL - Stamford Bridge - London, England - Chelsea U21 v Peterborough United - Checkatrade Trophy

Top scorer Ivan Toney and wingers Siriki Dembele and Marcus Maddison all scored in a 3-1 Checkatrade Trophy win against Chelsea Under 21s at Stamford Bridge tonight (January 9).

Evans also fielded exciting new signing Lee Tomlin for 45 minutes and his replacement at half-time George Cooper also excelled as Posh came from behind to win with three second-half goals in 10 minutes.

Posh are now in the Trophy quarter-finals for the second season in a row. The draw is scheduled for tomorrow evening in Sky’s EFL matters programme (January 13). Posh are two wins from a match at Wembley.

“We fielded a front four that will be as talented as anything in League One,” Evans enthused. “And when you add players like George Cooper and Matt Godden it’s an exciting squad of attacking players.

“Siriki scored a goal that emphasised his great ability, Ivan scored a goal that summed up his determination to get on the end of things and the goal Marcus scored was typical of the excellent counter-attacking football we were showing on a regular basis earlier in the season. They were three great finishes.

“We got a good 45 minutes into Lee Tomlin as well. He needed that and he will only improve because of it. He didn’t want to come off, but it looked like his legs had buckled after 35 minutes.

“We had a lot of ball in the first half, but tended to overplay, but when we stuck to one and two touch football in the second half we were very difficult to contain. We should probably have won by more against a very talented group of young players.

“It wasn’t just about the forwards though. We were good all over the pitch. Callum Cooke came back into the side for the first time for a lng time and was excellent as was Louis Reed. We looked strong defensively as well apart from conceding a poor goal.

“There wasn’t a lot in the first half, but we were very good after the break. The lads enjoyed the night and hopefully it will kick-start a good run of form.

“We are going to be very good to watch with this set of players.”

Posh are next in action at home to Rochdale in League One on Saturday (January 12).

Midfielder Mark O’Hara held transfer talks with League Two leaders Lincoln today.