The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Dembele dazzles on derby day as Posh stroll home
Posh - Thompson (33), Brown
How Cobblers must dread these matches against Posh. They have become so onesided and uncompetitive it’s now a rivalry based solely on location.
Posh weren’t great at Sixfields, but they didn’t have to be against a team set to struggle to retain their place in thethird tier withoutpositive action ahead of tomorrow’s (Friday) deadline for transfers.
Posh will spend that day battingaway(hopefully) inevitable interest in Siriki Dembeleandmaybeconsideringa back-upstriker in the mould of Jonson Clarke-Harris, the one irreplaceble player in a squad with a promotion look about it.
Dembele dazzled at Sixfields, particularly in the first-half when roaming free as part of a three-man support force behind ClarkeHarris.
Cobblers boss Keith Curle decided to employ a man marker, but picked the wrong man to attend to in Sammie Szmodics. The tactic just helped to liberate the Posh team’s biggest talent and he took full advantage.
Dembele warmed up by firing a shot from distance that busy Cobblers ‘keeper Steve Arnold tipped around a post andbasically tormented the home defencewithflicks, dribblesandprecision passes.
He c reated one fine chance for marauding right-back Nathan Thompson which was saved, but another Dembele defencesplitter was converted by Thompsonjust past the halfhour mark.
It wasagoalPoshdeserved for the greater fluency of their passing game, although they were grateful to a fine save from ‘keeper Christy Pym a few minutes earlier. He reacted well to keep out a deft flick from Sam Hoskins.
Cobblers getting in front would probably have persuaded them to shut up shop and deny Posh the space in
whichtoworksoitwasacritical moment.
Clarke-Harris forced another decent stop from Arnold with a 25-yard swerver before the break and after it the game descended into a scrappy affair in which Posh rarely l ooked like conceding once Nicky Adams had curled a 20-yard free kick over the crossbar.
Poshcontrolledtheaction withoutcreatingmuchthemselves, butafterJoeWardhad seen a piledriver, following another fine Dembele pass, saved, Reece Brown sealed thepointsnineminutesfrom time with a fierce drive from just inside the penalty area.
A two-goal victory was a fair result and a fitting farewell to the late, great Tommy Robsonwhowouldhavebeen pleased with his tribute organised by the home club.
The Cobblers boss picked the wrong player to try and manmark.