Sowerby delivers spark for Cod Army

FOR a team which had not won for six games, Fleetwood dispatched of Peterborough with consummate ease.

Midfielder Jack Sowerby was making his first start of the season for the Cod Army and he couldn’t believe his luck when Ash Hunter’s through ball found him in acres of space behind the Posh backline.

He confidently slid the ball past Luke McGee to score his first professional goal and open the scoring with just three minutes on the clock.

Devante Cole replaced the lively Hunter five minutes into the second half and it was the substitute’s cross that led to the hosts’ second. He burst down the right and put the ball on a plate for Bobby Grant, whose effort looked to be going wide before the unfortunate Jack Baldwin buried the ball past his own keeper.

Cole almost added gloss to the scoreline late on but his powerful left-footed strike cannoned back off the underside of the bar, much to relief of all of a Posh persuasion.

“I always had a good feeling, we had a good ten days, we worked on our shape and gameplan and that paid off today,” said Fleetwood boss Uwe Rosler, who also heaped praise on youngster Sowerby.

“It is a great example for our squad and for our whole club, when you play well in development games. On Thursday he wasn’t in the starting XI but throughout the session he played his way into the team.

“I had no headaches before the game, I trust the quality of my staff and they completely agreed to play him. He did himself proud not only for the goal but he showed no nerves and brought to the table exactly what we wanted of him.”

Posh didn’t have the ideal preparations when top-scorer Marcus Maddison withdrew after falling ill in the warm-up.

The 332 Posh fans had plenty to ponder on the long trip back to Cambridgeshire with a big game against local rivals Northampton on Tuesday. “We were terrible,” said manager Grant McCann. “We huffed and puffed, especially in the first half. It summed us up when we got a throw-in right on the stroke of half-time and I’m trying to call my centre-halves up to try and get a goal back.

“Everything about us was lacklustre, it wasn’t good enough. It is a problem and we need to address it, and address it quickly.

“Second half we were very, very, very poor. We didn’t move the ball quick enough and we didn’t have enough passion or desire.”