Peterborough United 1 Leicester City 5
Traveling only a third of the distance to the Walkers up the A1 to see the Friendly between the Posh and the City at London Road, it would be interesting to see how the draw against Oxford United the previous Saturday would motivate the City players, especially as Peterborough had beaten a Forest team on the same day.
There seemed to be more City shirts around the ground upon arrival, so we asked a steward if it was free seating and do we pay on the gate. “Dunno” was the reply. A folded sheet of paper cost £1 – nice Pic of 3 Posh players – in red! Seeing the ticket office with a queue of 3, we joined the queue, eventually being called to window one where a rather “elderly” lady asked what we wanted. She said “One Wrinkley?” looking at me! Cheek! “Yes please, plus one Adult and one Child in the Leicester end.” She replied “Standing or sitting?”
Knowing that the standing was behind the goal we decided upon this option and informed the lady. Expecting about £20 for the 3 tickets (it was a Friendly), she chirped up “That’ll be £44 please, plus 50p if you pay by Debit Card.” We looked at each other in disbelief but as we had come all of 15 miles, decided to pay up! Tickets issued with a nice grin from our lady. Was she on Commission to supplement her pension? Who knows!
Arriving at the turnstile, the young lad said “Not in ‘ere mate, you’re in the seats!” and directed us to another turnstile where we were let in and found our seats, but everyone just sat anywhere they chose, so we went for the “best” view (in old wooden seats). Asking where the “free” bar was located received a blank look. No wonder there appeared to be more City fans in the ground than Posh fans, perhaps they all knew how they were being ripped off for a friendly!!!!….
The City looked as if they had 2 complete teams on the pitch during the warm up and then the City team was announced with DJ Campbell partnering Fryatt up front with Dyer and N’Guessan in and Logan in goal with Neilson starting at full back with Oakley and King in the heart of mid-field.
The Posh had the impressive Boyd playing with Mclean up front and former Foxes Wesolowski in mid-field, receiving a warm welcome from the City fans. Manager Sousa was in open necked white shirt hanging out of his jeans – cool or what?
The game started fairly evenly with Dyer on the left and N’Guessan on the right but after 5 minutes they swapped over as N’Guessan started to show his speed and dribbling ability and he was causing the Posh defence a few problems. A shot was blocked then Berner put N’Guessan through but his cross was cleared just missing the in-rushing King. Oakley and King were steady in mid-field showing some classy touches with Morrison and the ever reliable Hobbs soaking up any balls into the box, Mclean not the tallest of number 9’s.
Peterborough gained a free kick 25 yards out but the McCann shot was blocked, the City defence doing well to clear from several rebounds. Oakley set up King and his effort was cleared by Bennett via the home sides cross bar.
As the Foxes gained momentum, in the 20th minute they deservedly took the lead when Neilsen sent over a cross, Peterborough’s normally reliable ‘keeper Lewis spilled it on to King’s head as the ball trickled over the line. The City fans were now cheering and Sousa acknowledged the calls for a wave.
Posh were still in the game but their shooting was very poor although Logan was beaten and Neilsen cleared off the line. Soon the Foxes were 2 up. Neilsen found the very quiet Fryatt who did well to put DJ clear and he duly found the corner of the net with a low drive for his 5th goal in friendlies. When the ball is played into DJ’s feet he impresses and finds his own colleagues with ease. Keep him, please.
From a cross on the right, the Posh found the net but as no flag went up some pushing must have happened in a crowded box. A third goal nearly resulted just before the break when Fryatt’s attempt was blocked with DJ nearly scoring again but was denied by a fabulous Lewis save. Dyer was very quiet and was running up blind alleys when he did receive the ball and certainly needed longer studs in his boots to stop falling over.
No changes at the break but with hoards of City subs warming up changes were inevitable. After 53 minutes City extended their lead when provider Fryatt (yes he passed again) was clear on the right and he found N’Guessan who thumped the ball home from 10 yards for a deserved goal that must have impressed Sousa.
To be fair, the Posh pushed forward but Hobbs carried on from last season dealing with everything, Morrison doing well in the air, although Logan had to make a superb save from a goal-bound McCann free-kick, followed by a Davies shot that Logan stopped with the re-bound going wide.
Both sides made changes with the City making 6 in 10 minutes although the rhythm was not spoiled and good passing moves continued, the newcomers out to impress. Kennedy (Berner), Hebib (Neilsen), Wellens (King), Howard (Campbell), Parkes (Morrison) and John (Dyer) all came on.
Howard was doing well and was rewarded when he scored City’s fourth in the 80th minute. Looking as if he had missed a shooting chance he took the ball wide of the keeper and thumped the ball into the bulging net.
Verma (Oakley), Chambers (Fryatt) and Schlupp (N’Guessan) came on but then Posh pulled a goal back. A dubious free kick was give 25yards out on City’s left, McCann smacking the ball home past Logan’s left hand into the net, the keeper should have saved.
The Foxes still pushed forward and in the dying minutes Howard received the ball in the box and again he rifled the ball home past a diving Lewis from 8 yards.
5 goals, yes, but Peterborough are no longer a Championship team. “Premiership, here we come” was heard but rather early for that dream, but a move in the right direction, Sunderland will surely be a bigger test then it’s down to the league. Sousa has looked at many players plus the Slovenian new signing (how do you pronounce that name?).
Bring on the Palace and start with 3 points
Teams:
Peterborough: Lewis, Langmead, Lee, Boyd, McCann, Rowe, Wesolowski, Bennett, Mclean, Hibbett, Mendez-Laing.
City: Logan, Neilsen, Morrison, Hobbs, Berner, Dyer, King, Oakley, N’Guessan, Campbell, Fryatt. Subs as above.
Referee:K. Hill
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation