Peterborough Utd 0-2 Huddersfield Town
Martin Sykes, Chief Reporter
Twitter: @Gledholtsykes
It’s been a while
It’s been a while.
A while since Town opened the season with a win.
A while since a comfortable, drama free away victory.
A while since the team looked coherent, unified and competent.
Caution abounds, of course, and the first 20 minutes of the opener were far less comfortable than the remainder of the game, but there were so many positive pointers it is difficult not to get slightly carried away.
Peterborough are historically tough to beat at London Road, regularly compete at the top end of League 1 and hold more than a few demons for their visitors, but to say they are a work in progress would be being quite kind to an ultimately weak display. It is also fair to say that they have significant injury problems at the back, which were exposed on a regular basis after the break.
Their initial, and predictable, early enthusiasm rather pushed Town on to the back foot, whose cause was not helped by constantly conceding free kicks for niggly, often unnecessary, infringements, easily spotted by an unfairly maligned referee.
The majority of promising openings in the first half hour fell to the home side though Nicholls, a commanding figure throughout, was barely troubled by the resultant attempts on goal.
The seeds of Posh’s destruction were evident, however, even during their most productive period, as Town constantly undermined their attempts to play out from the back with an effective, if too often illegal, press.
With a makeshift, youthful, back four, the strategy looked fraught with danger from early on and, commendable as it was to stick to their identity, it increasingly stifled the hosts’ threat on the counter. When they did go more direct, they looked a little more threatening.
But goals change games and Town’s opener, a little against the run of play, signalled a massive power shift.
Evans, the most impressive Terrier across the piece, latched on to an excellent pull back from Wiles and though a deflection added a slice of luck to the opener, he hit it cleanly and purposefully and profited from finding the space in the first place.
Posh never really recovered from the blow while Town grew in stature and landed a second blow just before half time to demoralise their opponent even further.
A corner found its way to Koroma who wriggled around to create a shooting opportunity only for it to be blocked before falling very nicely for Wiles to drill home emphatically.
Flattering as the scoreline was at half time, the 15 minutes of dominance all over the pitch after the half hour mark was very encouraging, as was the shape and substance of a midfield, in stark contrast to last season’s mess.
Miller and Sorensen offered width which was a little under utilised, while Evans and the resurgent Wiles provided guile in front of Hogg’s energetic (if too often misplaced) graft.
With a throttle hold on the contest, Town dominated after the break with an aggressive and hugely effective press forcing Peterborough in to error after error, and other than a brief scare when Spencer conceded possession carelessly which led to a half chance, the home side were entirely subdued.
Town chances didn’t particularly flow from their superiority, but Helik looked a little unfortunate to have a third ruled out for offside, possibly against a colleague and substitute Ward eschewed at least 2 opportunities to shoot when put through late on.
Healey and Koroma worked hard up front without seeing many opportunities, but strengthening forward options, as evidenced by the loan move late last week and continuing interest in Luton’s Joe Taylor suggests, is essential if a realistic promotion challenge is to be maintained.
A lack of pace at the back, very nearly exploited on occasion by a generally becalmed opposition, also needs to be resolved but, for the moment, it is enough to enjoy an ultimately comfortable away win after the deluge of misery the past few seasons have delivered.
Kane’s late cameo in place of Evans was a welcome reminder of the depth of midfield options now available to Duff, who should also have been impressed with Kasumu’s short deputisation of Hogg, who will surely be used more sparingly in this campaign. His experience was worth utilising here as the team finds its competitive legs, but progress will be evident when it isn’t needed at all.
A very promising start.