Peterborough United put on a scintillating display as they ran out 4-1 victors at Spotland in their first away game against Rohcdale, leaving manager Steve Evans encouraged by his new-look Posh side.
Evans praised an impressive team performance after his Peterborough United side put four past Rochdale in their first away game of the season.
Ian Henderson fired Rochdale ahead 17 minutes in through a contentious penalty, sending keeper Aaron Chapman the wrong way. Evans wasn’t afraid to voice his discontent in the post-match interview with the club’s YouTube channel, saying:
“I don’t think it’s a penalty, I think it’s a dive. I’ll be the first to apologise to the kid if I see another footage, but I’ve seen two footages, it’s a clear dive.”
However, Evans praised his side as they pounced back with energy and ruthlessness, scoring three goals before half-time. On the 25 minute mark, loan signing Jason Cummings opened his account for The Posh, latching onto a cross from winger Siriki Dembele. Dembele was at the centre of Posh’s next goal, whipping in a free-kick for Cummings, who nodded the ball across the box for midfielder Mark O’Hara to head in. New striker Matty Godden then made it three in added time, continuing his impressive start to life at posh.
“But we got back into the game, with a fantastic cross from Dembele and brilliant movement from Jason Cummings, whose movement gave them a real problem all afternoon, with him and Godden. And it was fitting from a Dembele free-kick that Godden got a goal as well. So from that point of view we were terrific, we were organised, we were disciplined.”
In the 93rd minute, Posh scored their fourth, ensuring they would be taking all three points back to London Road. Mark O’Hara dispossessed the Rochdale defender, the ball fell to Deadline Day signing Ivan Toney, who backed into his man and allowed O’Hara to run onto the loose ball, before coolly slotting the ball beyond Joe Lillis for his second of the game.
When asked about O’Hara, Evans sung the praises of Posh’s new number eight:
“I don’t this his distance covered today can be the same as last week (14 kilometres) because that was an incredible statistic, but he’ll certainly be the best on the pitch in terms of who has covered the most distance, and who has got the most athleticism when it matters late on in games. You can see when Ivan (Toney) gets a little nick on the ball, I never had a minutes doubt the ball would end up in the net.”
Evans was full of praise for Posh’s defensive display as well:
“If you come here against Aaron Wilbraham and they throw big Calvin Andrew off the bench it’s not going to be a secret how they play. But, I thought my centre-backs stood strong, and they’re going to have to stand strong in League One. It often ends up a physical battle when you’re trying to get points on the board. I’m just pleased we won our battles all over the pitch, we had good energy, we had a good attacking ploy, I thought Dembele in spells was sensational.”
Evans will be hoping for a similar display on Tuesday night as they face Queens Park Rangers in the first round of the Carabao Cup at Loftus Road. Peterborough United will be hoping to pull of their second competitive victory over a Championship side this year, aiming to emulate their historic 3-1 win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup Third Round in January.
