A diamond that rarely sparkled

RIP and good riddance to the midfield diamond.

A stubbon and clearly nostalgic manager finally admitted defeat with a formation unsuited to his players after indisputable evidence was placed before his eyes at Kingsmeadow.

For an hour Posh were imprisoned by a system that is too easy to bypass and does nothing for the creative talents in the squad.

But a goal Wimbledon thoroughly deserved from Joe Pigott in the 58th minute was followed by an immediate switch to wing-backs and Posh promptly ran riot in the final half-an-hour when only hopeless finishing and the sort of misfortune that always follows out-of-form sides around the country stopped them winning comfortably.

Sammie Szmodics spoilt a busy, energetic and promising debut by missing the target from three quality chances, Ivan Toney hit the sidenetting from six yards out after substitute RickyJade Jones had blocked an attempted clearance by goalkeeper Nathan Trott onto a post, and the Posh top scorer twice headed narrowly wide, once either side of a closerange blast that was parried by Trott.

Other shots deflected past a post or were blocked before Posh accepted a fourth defeat in five League One matches and maintained a record of not having won a game this season after falling behind.

Posh dominated a lot of the first-half possession, but failed to trouble Trott as a busy assistant kept flagging Mo Eisa offside, not always accurately according to video evidence.

But the hosts did more with less, forcing Posh ‘keeper Christy Pym into four excellent saves before Piggott beat both central defenders and the goalkeeper to claim a fourth goal in five matches.

If only Pym had let one of the first-half shots in. Posh might then have ditched th diamond earlier and enjoyed more time to find the sort of finish they were taking for granted earlier in the season.