Five Star Showing For Posh
Tranmere Rovers must be sick of the sight of Peterborough United. At Prenton Park in the league, Posh ran riot to claim a 5-0 success and they repeated the feat in the second round of the FA Cup with front pair Britt Assombalonga and Shaun Jeffers tearing the visitors apart.Michael Bostwick tested goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams inside the opening 10 minutes with a low free-kick after Jermaine Anderson was upended 25-yards from goal.
Good work from Shaun Jeffers created a half-chance for Assombalonga at the near post, but his toe-poke went wide of the target. On 19 minutes, Posh came very close to the breakthrough as excellent work from Tomlin and Ephraim ended with the latter's fierce cross spilled by Fon Williams into the path of Jeffers, who couldn't keep his close range shot down.
Kirby fired wide of the target at the other end in a rare Tranmere foray forward. Posh were dealt a blow just before the half hour mark as Ephraim limped out of the action to be replaced by Danny Swanson.
On 36 minutes, Bostwick strode forward from the back, wriggled past several defenders and burst into the box, but his low shot went wide of the target.
The deadlock was broken on 39 minutes as a glorious pass from Tomlin picked out ASSOMBALONGA, he looked like he was going to cut inside, but instead unleashed a powerful toe poke which flashed past goalkeeper Fon Williams.
On the stroke of half-time, Posh were denied what looked a stonewall penalty as Swanson appeared to be tripped in the box, but the referee awarded a corner. From the resulting set-piece, Posh made it 2-0 as Tomlin's delivery was flicked on by Brisley and JEFFERS was unmarked at the back post to stab home past Fon Williams.
Bostwick fired over a minute into the second half as Posh tried to put the tie to bed. On 65 minutes, Posh made it 3-0 as great hassling from McCann in the centre midfield area saw him obtain possession and his pass found Swanson who in turn picked out ASSOMBALONGA, who cut inside and drilled the ball low past Fon Williams.
Tomlin saw a free-kick clip the wall on 69 minutes and five minutes later, it was all over as ASSOMBALONGA collected a pass from Tomlin, ran at a tiring Tranmere back-line, cut inside and curled a superb effort past Fon Williams to complete his hat-trick.
Brisley came close to bundling home a fifth from a corner kick, but his effort was cleared off the line by Holmes. On 82 minutes, McCann saw a left-foot free-kick beaten away by Fon Williams after Swanson was felled just outside of the box.
Swanson saw a curler from 25-yards go wide of the upright on 84 minutes. Assombalonga fired wide moments later as Posh pressed forward in search of a fifth goal to repeat the win from earlier in the season in Sky Bet League One.
Jeffers glanced a Swanson corner kick wide of the target on 88 minutes while Fon Williams produced a superb stop to deny the rampaging Mendez-Laing.
It was 5-0 in stoppage time as a Bostwick centre was swept home by JEFFERS for his second goal of the afternoon.
Final Score: Posh 5-0 Tranmere Rovers
Posh: Olejnik, Ntlhe, Little (sub Knight-Percival 74min) , Brisley, Bostwick, Anderson, McCann, Ephraim (sub Swanson 28min), Tomlin (sub Mendez-Laing 74min), Assombalonga, Jeffers. Unused subs: Day, Conlon, Marshall, Barnett,
Tranmere: Fon Williams, Holmes, Edwards, McNulty, Ridehalgh, Kirby (sub Rowe 65min), Wallace, Atkinson, Peterson, Lowe, Akpa Akpro (sub Stockton 59min). Unused subs: Mooney, Horwood, Power, Sodje, Koumas.
Attendance: 3,269 (242 Tranmere fans)