Posh youngsters bow out of the FA Youth Cup at the hands of Dereham Town.
The Peterborough United under 18s were knocked out of the FA Youth Cup at the first round stage by a spirited Dereham Town side on Thursday evening as a last-gasp header from James Cooper secured a passage into the second round for the non-leaguers.
It was the second goal of the night for Cooper – he scored a stunning free-kick at the conclusion of the first period, but it was the dismissal of Ethan Lee that proved out to the be the turning point in this contest – the youngster booked for a tackle and then shown a second yellow within 30 seconds for pushing an opponent in the chest.
Posh had chances throughout the contest, mainly from distance (21 of their 28 shots at goal were off target), and controlled the first half before COOPER struck from 25-yards, curling his effort over the ball and past goalkeeper Dion-Curtis Henry and into the top corner.
Deon Moore twice fired over while Leonardo Da Silva Lopes headed wide and fired high and wide after a deep centre from Ollie Humphreys. Posh had made a bright start to the second half, but the sending off of Lee allowed the hosts to create a host of late chances with only a combination of the woodwork and poor finishing keeping Posh in the contest.
Substitute Ryan Fuller struck the bar before Cooper fired the rebound over while the striker was also denied by a superb stop from Henry, who was brave to dive at the feet of the front man.
Those chances looked to have been punished by Posh when substitute GOW took advantage of some slack defending to head home a Joe Hood free-kick on 88 minutes.
However within two minutes, COOPER atoned for his misses by heading home a cross from Lawn to put the home side back in front and spark wild celebrations on the bench. Seven minutes of injury time followed as Posh pressed with Moore and Maslen-Jones firing over from distance and the lively Kweku Lucan, who had earlier seen a shot cleared off the line, also went close.
However, the hosts clung on to claim a famous scalp and earn a second round trip to Mansfield Town.
Posh: Henry, Ferrier, Humphrey (sub Gow 74min), Goode, Maslen-Jones, Hood, Baudry (Sub Lucan 58min), Lee, Moore, Da Silva Lopes, Keating. Unused subs: Penfold, Jarvis, Connor.
Dereham: Child, Ramm, Clayton, Linford, Cook, Rivett, Lawn (sub Hazell 90), Green, Cooper, Sainsbury-Logan, Bidlosik (sub Fuller 70).