The Posh Under 21s suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to St Ives Town in their latest pre-seaso friendly on Tuesday evening.
A young Posh side was given the opportunity to showcase their talents against Southern League Premier Division Central opposition, and the side selected by manager Ryan Semple was a mixture of Under 21’s and Under 18’s along with a number trialists in both the starting line-up and on the bench.
A quiet first half which saw only a handful of opportunities with the best chance of the half falling to Andre Changunda who curled a brilliant strike just wide of the post just before the break. The second half started at a fast pace with the trialist in The Posh goal, keeping the game level with a good save to deny the St Ives forward.
This was quickly followed by action at the other end with Changunda again going close from distance and Kabongo Tshimanga being denied superbly by the St Ives keeper. The hosts scored the only goal of the game in the 72nd minute when the ball was drilled low across the box and was tapped home from close-range. Young defender Mendonca superbly denied the hosts a second with a brilliant header off the line late on.
Despite the defeat Manager Ryan Semple pointed out there were positives to take from the game. “It’s disappointing to lose any game but there were pockets of play within the game where we had control. We had good bits of play especially in the first 2/3rds of the pitch, so there are definitely things to take away from the performance."
The Under 21’s side travel to Norwich on Saturday morning as they continue their pre-season campaign.
Posh: Trialist A, Powell, Sumnall, Mendonca, Trialist B, Fox, Trialist C, Odei-Larbi, Beech, Changunda, Tshimanga
Subs: Trialist D, Trialist E, Freeman, Fitzpatrick, Davies, Gbajumo