Stevenage 0-2 Peterborough

Boro were comfortably beaten 2-0 in what was their most disappointing display of pre-season so far. After a tough week which has seen Boro play 4 games in quick succession the team looked tired and were chasing shadows for most of the second half. They started well though continuing where they left off on Saturday with good spells of possession, but had no real cutting edge, although Boylan did hit the post after a mistake by Chris Westwood. Anthony Thomas looked a threat again, but couldn’t finish. Mitchell Cole put in a performance we were too used to seeing last season under Peter Taylor. He was hardly in the game and needs to improve his work rate if he is to have an impact on games.

It was a quite uneventful first half until Luke Oliver came on for Ronnie Henry just before half-time. Within a minute Peterborough had scored. Boyd ran at Bostwick before setting up Aaron McLean who had lost his marker and put Posh in the lead. The change at the back seemed to disrupt things and a few minutes later Posh had doubled their lead after Rendell scored after a mix up in the Boro area. Boro went in at half-time 2-0 down.

Westley brought on Andy Drury and trialist goalkeeper Michael Jordan in the second half. Gary Mills, who I’ve been pretty impressed by so far this pre-season and James Russell were the players to make way. The second half was one of the most boring halves of football I’ve seen in a long time. Peterborough had one shot cleared off the line by Scott Laird, while Westwood nearly put through his own net at the other end. That was the closest Boro came to reducing the deficit.

Although it was another defeat, it was another good workout for the squad. A thing I noticed tonight was just how much we rely on Steve Morison. Tonight we didn’t look like creating a chance, let alone scoring. Morison isn’t just someone who can stick the ball in the back of the net, he also closes people down and has good movement off the ball. That movement allows others to get into spaces where they can create. That didn’t happen tonight. Let’s hope he stays fit if we are to make a serious push for promotion this season.