Crawley Town 3 Peterborough United Reserves 2
The Peterborough United second string were well beaten at Crawley Town on Tuesday evening, but the performance of goalkeeper Luke McShane was impressive as he made a string of good saves.
Posh were 2-0 down inside the first 10 minutes as the non-league side took control and if it had not been for McShane, it would have been worse as Posh made a disastrous start to the encounter. Jamie Day was upended inside the box after a mazy dribble on 25 minutes and Andre BOUCAUD stepped up to dispatch the spot-kick - his second penalty of the season.
Crawley snatched a third goal on the counter attack before the half-time interval and reserve team boss John Morling admitted the defensive play as a team was disappointing. Some of the attacking play was a plus point, but another defensive error allowed the home side to grab a fourth goal. Posh reduced the arrears when a great cross from Day was headed home by substitute Matt NOLAN at the far post.
In the final quarter of an hour, McShane made a few great saves as Posh pressed forward and Morling's men did get caught on the break twice - the second goal a penalty kick after McShane had upended one of the Town front men. Morling told theposh.com: 'Obviously from a defensive point of view, it was an awful night as a team. It is something we need to work on. However, some of our possession play and attacking endeavour has been a lot better than in recent weeks. In reserve football, it is not greatly important if we win the game, it is more to do with players pushing themselves forward for the first team.
'In that respect, I was pleased with Ryan Semple and Jamie Day who both did very well, getting good crosses into the box and getting to the by-line. Having said that, we have to learn from our mistakes and make sure we don't perform defensively as bad as what we did against Crawley,' Morling concluded.
Posh: McShane, Kanu, West, St. Ledger, Deen, Day, Semple, Fry (sub Coulson 55min), Boucaud, Logan (sub Thomas 60min), Clarke (sub Nolan 45min)