The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Can Lee fire Poshto promotion?
Peterborough United boss Steve Evans insists his side will come good when it really matters.
Posh completed back-to-back defeats for the first time this season when losing 5-0 at Championship side Middlesbrough in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
Posh were back in action at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea Under 21s last night (Wednesday), but for Evans and his team this Saturday’s League One game against ailing Rochdale is the biggest match of the week.
“We all know what our priority is this season,” Evans stated. “And that’s winning promotion to the Championship.
“Of course we wanted to make progress in the FA Cup and we wanted to beat Chelsea, but we need to beat Rochdale more.
“I felt a bit for the players at Middlesbrough. The scoreline was seriously harsh as in the first-half we looked to be getting back to our best.
“We defended solidly and we looked good in possession. We carved out two or three great chances to score and take the lead, but when you dominate good sides you have to get in front and we didn’t.
“It was inevitable Middles- brough would react. We knew it would happen, but we gave away two sloppy goals in the first five minutes and that killed the game.
“Middlesbrough became confident and we started to find it very hard, but we didn’t deserve to lose 5-0.
“I doubt there has been another team in League One who has had to travel as much as us since Boxing Day. We’ve been to Barnsley, Accrington, Middlesbrough and London, but my players don’t complain they just knuckle down and try and get the right result for Peterborough United.
“We have a good group and with the little bit of extra help for the squad we have organised I am confident we will soon be getting positive results.
“The League One table actually looks quite good for us. The games that were played last weekend went well for us and if we beat Rochdale we could end up in fourth place.
“That’s the big game for us. We need a win to give us some momentum for the games against top sides Luton and Charlton that follow.”
Posh gave debuts to on-loan defenders Ben White and Daniel Lafferty at Middlesbrough. They will be in the squad on Saturday along with on-loan Fleetwoood midfielder Kyle Dempsey who moved to the ABAX Stadium this week.
“Ben was excellent against Middlesbrough and Dan also played well,” Evans added.
“I know they were in a defence that shipped five goals, but I was encouraged by how quickly they settled into the way we wanted to play.
“We played with three centre-backs and it’s a system I would definitely use again. “Middlesbrough fielded three strikers who cost them £30 million in total against us and they had no joy for 45 minutes before the individual errors crept back in.
“Five minutes of madness cost us the chance of gaining a very good win,
“Ben is very good on the ball, but he’s also a proper defender. He will be a great signing for us as will Dan who has played left wing-back on many occasions for Sheffield United.
“Both players will make us better and if we can stop the individual mistakes we will start keeping the clean sheets we need.”
The 5-0 defeat was the heaviest for Posh since a 6-1 home beating by Norwich City Under 21s in a Checkatrade Trophy tie in August 2016.
It was Middlesbrough’s biggest win for 11 years.
A report and reaction to thePoshgameatChelsealast night can be found on www. peterboroughtoday.co.uk.
Manager Steve Evans is confident Posh will soon be back to their best.
Ryan Tafazolli made a mistake for the first Boro goal.
Steve Evans: “The final scoreline was very harsh.”