Peterborough United looked comfortable in their EFL Trophy clash with Brighton and Hove Albion’s Under 21 side after 70 minutes, sitting 2-0 up thanks to goals from Matty Godden and Jason Cummings.
However, another rocky defensive display backfired on The Posh, as they conceded two goals in eight minutes, taking the game to penalties – which they ultimately lost 4-5.
The failure to win now takes Posh to six games without a win in front of their home crowd, which will be heavily frustrating for manager Steve Evans – who has been calling for a change in home form from his squad since their first home defeat against Portsmouth nearly a month ago.
Peterborough United manager Steve Evans was not on media duty for last night’s game against Brighton’s second string side, and assistant manager Paul Raynor spoke to the Peterborough Telegraph about the match.
“It’s a disappointing result for us,” Raynor said.
“We were far from scintillating, but we were comfortable at 2-0 up. Brighton have a lot of technically gifted players, but they weren’t hurting us and we stepped our intensity up in the second-half so well we looked like winning comfortably.
Raynor didn’t hesitate to criticise the defensive display he saw on Tuesday night, as Posh blew a two goal lead.
“But we’ve given the ball away cheaply and then let a right-footed player turn inside and score to give them hope and then we’ve let a cross come in and not bothered to mark someone six yards from goal at the far post.”
“We defended both goals badly and it’s happening too often now. We can’t keep having to score three or four goals to win games.
“Goals are scored against us too easily. Our players don’t get free headers at the far post.
However, he did offer encouragement to the defence, and didn’t place all blame on the back four.
“It’s not just a problem for the back four either. It’s a team thing. Individual errors are hurting us. A lack of concentration is hurting us. Some players are playing too adventurously. We need to do the basics right like stopping crosses coming in and marking players beter in the penalty area. We have to have a better shape when we turn the ball over. We simply have to do much better and win more of our individual battles.
“We are working hard on it and hopefully it will come right for us at Scunthorpe on Saturday. We don’t have many options at the moment, but shuffling the pack is an option if those on the fringes of the side can step up and make us pick them.”
Posh have a chance to end their three game winless run in the League this weekend against Scunthorpe United, as they look to try and maintain their place in the automatic promotion places.
