BUTLER SERVES UP A POSH WIN
BEAMING Posh boss Darren Ferguson is hoping his side’s latest victory will be a taste of things to come.
Star striker Ivan Toney bagged his 24th goal of the season after Dan Butler opened the scoring at the Weston Homes Stadium.
Victory kept Ferguson’s charges’ promotion bid firmly on track as Pompey’s own chase for the top two suffered a dent.
Both sides are three points off the pace, but Kenny Jackett’s Pompey have what could be a vital game in hand.
Ferguson, however, is feeling positive.
“It’s a good win,” said Ferguson. “If we get to that level of performance from here until the end of the season then we will have a right chance [of promotion].
“We were composed, confident and, in truth, should have won by more.
“It was an excellent performance.
“The front two caused them plenty of problems.
“We came under a little bit of pressure, but we defended well.
“The second goal shows you just what Ivan Toney is about – he’s a cracking player.”
But it was defender Butler who fired the hosts into a 32nd-minute lead with a sweet left-foot strike into the top right corner.
It was his second goal in three games, having previously failed to find the back of the net all season before that.
Midfielder Cameron McGeehan had a shot saved by Posh keeper Christy Pym, before Butler had a shot blocked at the other end.
Tom Naylor saw his header from Ronan Curtis’ corner saved by Pym soon after, while Sammie Szmodics was denied by Pompey shot-stopper Alex Bass.
And then Bass made an even better block to prevent leading scorer Toney from doubling the lead, although he sealed a fine win when he fired home with four minutes remaining as Posh claimed their first home league victory over Pompey for over two years.
Despite a disappointing result, Jackett admitted he had no complaints – but he was frustrated at the visitors’ lack of pressure on Boro’s goal.
He reflected: “They had us both halves 1-0. While we had quite a lot of pressure in the second half we didn’t do enough going forward.
“Obviously Ivan Toney looked a very good centre forward.
“He scored an absolutely crucial goal and it was a goal which took the game away from us.
“Whilst we can talk about goals against and players running off him, the biggest disappointment is we didn’t get going going forward.
“We couldn’t find those shots, didn’t work their goalkeeper enough.
“The one versus one situations just weren’t there for us.
“Defensively they really took care of us and limited us to chances and that’s the biggest disappointment.”