Dembele dazzles in a game that could have finished 8-0!

POSH

Match details

Goals:

Posh - Dembele (17 & 23), ClarkeHarris (90 + 4).

Cautions Swindon - Twine, Camp.

Referee Josh Smith 8

Posh could easily have won 8-0 at the County Ground without even playing well.

That’s how much of a mismatch this game between top and bottom turned out to be.

Mo Eisa, Joe Ward and Siriki Dembele all lost out to overworked home goalkeeper Lee Camp in one-on-one situations, while Jack Taylor and substitute Ethan Hamilton both miskicked badly in front of goal.

Oh and Jonson ClarkeHarris also fluffed a 61st minute spot-kick as Posh showed worrying mercy to a defence so all over the place they appeared to have been coached by the Keystone Kops.

Apart from the failure to further boost their goal difference, the wastefulness was never going to be that important, but Posh will need to sharpen up for the considerably harder tests to come in the final month of the regular season.

They will also need to start better. Posh spent most of the first 15 minutes watching

Swindon pass the ball about in front of them. Posh showed very little energy or aggression, but then Dembele took the game by the scruff the neck.

Tenacity and terrific dribbling skills, plus a lovely flicked pass by Mo Eisa, delivered the first goal in the 17th minute and six minutes later Dembele scored a high-class second all of his own making.

And that was pretty much that as far as the destination of the three points was concerned, although so slack were Posh in front of goal manager Darren Ferguson regularly let his unhappiness show from the sidelines.

Ferguson also embarrassed teenager Harrison Burrows by subbing him off

22 minutes after subbing him on for reasons that weren’t entirely obvious to the press corps.

If Clarke-Harris, who did eventually add a fine third goal from the edge of the box in the final minutes, hadn’t sent his spot-kick wide after winning the decision himself Ferguson’s mood would probably have been lighter, but thankfully these days Posh have a back four they can rely on if things are not going to plan further forward.

That defence has now been supplemented by emergency loan goalkeeper Josef Bursik who looked the part, but had just one routine save to make when Scott Twine let fly from 2o yards.

Posh will need to sharpen up for the bigger tests to come.

SWINDON Reece Brown (left) in action for Posh at Swindon.