Rebecca Mears' second-half strike secured Posh Women Under 23s a 1-1 draw at the Guardian Warehousing Arena.
Peterborough United Women Under 23s claimed a point on the road on Sunday afternoon after their 1-1 draw with Sporting Khalsa Development in the FA Women’s National League Reserves Midlands Division.
Posh created an early chance with Abrantes cross into the box flashing across the goalmouth, but there was nobody there to force the ball home.
The hosts took the lead on 11 minutes after a ball from the left set Alexie GRAY through on goal where she slotted past Imogen Hollwey into the bottom right corner.
A few minutes later, Posh looked to respond to the setback with Abrantes sending a ball into the box that found Oliver at the back post, but the midfielder was unable to find the net.
On 19 minutes, Mears played a great ball to Ford into the centre of the pitch where she drove forwards and fired a shot that went just wide of the far post.
Before the break, Ford found herself one-on-one with the goalkeeper in the centre of the box, but her efforts were narrowly saved by the keeper's legs.
Posh came out strong in the second-half to find an equaliser. On 46 minutes, MEARS levelled the scores with a strike from the edge of the box.
The home side looked to get themselves back in front with a chance from the left side of the box, their initial chance was blocked by Hollwey, but the deflection found a Khalsa player who fortunately fired over the crossbar.
Posh kept searching for a winner and looked dangerous from corners. On 78 minutes, Abrantes tested the keeper and forced her to knock the ball out of play at the near post to deny oncoming Posh players.
Minutes later, goalscorer Mears was played through on goal, but her shot from inside the box went wide.
Posh created their final chance in the the last few minutes of the game from Smith who crossed the ball into Cragg, but she headed the ball wide at the back post.
Manager Michael Allsebrook said: “I thought first half we were really lethargic, out of possession we didn’t play with the intensity that we wanted to. Second half, we asked for a bit of desire, a bit of passion, more purpose to our play and to be fair to the girls they did that. We dominated the second half, we had four or five really good chances and on another day, we take them. Ultimately, it’s a point we deserve but I probably walked away thinking we deserved more.
“We went out there with a real purpose, we were really determined, the girls were really fired up after the half-time team talk and when you get a goal as early as we did, it sets you off and we then went on the front foot for the next 15 minutes. We didn’t quite get the goal which I thought brought them back into it, they made some changes which I think helped them a little bit. The game got really scrappy towards the end but ultimately, we got the goal but couldn’t quite find the winner.”
Posh: Hollwey, Richards-Reeves (sub Cooper 76min), Abrantes, Riley, Biggadike, Mears, Podd, Smith, Oliver, Ford (sub Cragg 68min), Iyawa.
Half-time: Sporting Khalsa Women Development 1-0 Peterborough United Women Under 23s
Full-time: Sporting Khalsa Women Development 1-1 Peterborough United Women Under 23s
Photo credit: Darren Wiles
Written by Jake Clipson-Cox