FERGUSON HAILS HIS RISING STARS
DARREN Ferguson was delighted with Posh’s scoring prowess after they climbed into the top two.
Sammie Szmodics’ double and a comical late Jonson Clarke-Harris clincher earned victory against Dons, who slipped back into the drop-zone.
Szmodics slotted the opener past goalkeeper Sam Walker in the 49th minute after the visitors were undone by fine passes from Reece Brown and Siriki Dembele.
He quickly doubled the advantage with a fine finish into the far corner after collecting a Nathan Thompson pass and bursting into the box.
The hosts were gifted a third when Dons defender Nesta Guinness-Walker’s goal-line clearance slammed against Jonson Clarke-Harris to gift the Posh hitman his 20th goal of the campaign.
Those exploits – combined with a last-gasp leveller for Doncaster against previous second-placed side Hull – earned Posh a rise into the automatic promotion places.
Ferguson said: “We weren’t aggressive enough in the first half and knew we needed to ‘up’ the intensity.
“We were much better in that respect in the second half. We scored two good goals and a bit of fortune for the third finished it off.
“It’s the second successive game we have won 3-0 in the second half and it’s great to see us scoring plenty of goals, as goal difference could turn out to be important.
“It’s just a shame the third goal didn’t come a bit earlier so I could have made more chances, but it was still a good result with a clean sheet.
“I’m not too bothered about anyone other than ourselves. We just need to concentrate on what we are doing.
“We’ve picked up another good win at home and move on to the next game on Tuesday.”
New boss Mark Robinson suffered a losing start to his permanent reign as AFC Wimbledon boss and saw debutant striker Shayon Harrison stretchered off with an ankle injury only moments after being introduced as a second-half substitute.
Robinson said: “We did OK in the first half. We caused Peterborough a few problems and nullified their threats. But we knew they would change what they did in the second half and we didn’t deal with that.
“We told the players they would face a different challenge, but within eight minutes we found ourselves 2-0 down. Those two goals were key to the outcome and the manner which we conceded them was poor.
“We then had to change formation to stop Peterborough hurting us, but that was difficult in itself as we’ve only had a week of work with the squad.
“I’ve asked the players to reflect on those opening minutes of the second half and come up with some answers and then we can work on solutions.”
PETERBOROUGH UNITED: Pym 7, Kent 7, Thompson 8 (Mason 79, 6), Beevers 7, Ward 6 (Burrows 90), Brown 7 (Hamilton 74, 6), Taylor 7, Butler 7, Szmodics 9 (Jade-Jones 90), Dembele 8, Clarke-Harris 8 (Eisa 90). Subs not used: Kanu,Tyler.
AFC WIMBLEDON: Walker 6, O’Neill 6, Johnson 7 (Heneghan 78, 6), Nightingale 6, Guinness-Walker 6, Woodyard 6, Dobson 6 (Oksanen 78, 5), Rudoni 6 (Osew 78, 6), Chislett (Harrison 58, 6, Alexander 67, 6), Longman 6, Pigott 6. Subs not used: Csoka, Tzanev.