Two first half goals were enough to see Uwe Rosler’s high-flying Fleetwood side see off Peterborough United in the clash at the Abax Stadium on Good Friday. With the match meaning little to Peterborough, they made four changes to their line-up from their previous match away at Coventry, with Andrew Hughes and Callum Chettle coming in alongside youngsters Lewis Freestone and Andrea Borg who both made their professional debuts. Visitors Fleetwood made three changes to their line-up bringing in Kyle Dempsey, Ashley Eastham and Amari’i Bell.
The match got off to a quick start, with both teams looking to regain momentum after defeats last Saturday and the visitors almost took the lead within the first minute of the match, Ashley Hunter with the early strike testing Luke McGee in the Peterborough goal. With both sides starting the match with a very quick tempo, they both created good chances very early on with Callum Chettle and Craig Mackail-Smith having their strikes saved by Alex Cairns in the opposite goal within the first 10 minutes of the match.
Bobby Grant opened the scoring for the visitors after 23 minutes after David Ball had beaten the defence and rounded McGee, squaring it into his path, leaving him with a simple finish from six yards out. That lead could have been doubled twice before the half-hour mark with both Ball and Nathan Pond having close range efforts saved well by the legs of Luke McGee. With Peterborough struggling to gain a foothold in the game the visitors did double their lead late in the first half when George Glendon’s square ball across the box was turned in by Ashley Eastham in similar circumstances to the opener on 42 minutes.
In the second half, the tempo of the match seemed to die down, with the Posh trying to push for a way back into the match and Fleetwood consolidating and trying to see the game out. There was a penalty shout after Craig Mackail-Smith was clattered in the box by Cairns, but the referee adjudged the Fleetwood keeper to have won the ball fairly. The veteran striker recovered from this and seven minutes later, after a strong run from Marcus Maddison down the left, he converted the resulting cross to bring Peterborough back into the match.
The home side, however, couldn’t capitalise, despite impressive performances from Anthony Grant, Marcus Maddison and the aforementioned young debutant Lewis Freestone, fell to their 17th loss of the season and second on the trot, while the visitors kept up their slim hopes of automatic promotion and strengthened their grip on a play off spot.
Teams
Peterborough United: Luke McGee, Michael Smith, Andrew Hughes, Michael Bostwick, Marcus Maddison, Craig Mackail-Smith, Leo Da Silva Lopes (54), Callum Chettle (45) , Lewis Freestone, Andrea Borg (82) , Anthony Grant Subs: Mark Tyler, Chris Forrester (54), Paul Taylor (82), Brad Inman, Tom Nichols, Jerome Binnom-Williams, Junior Morais (45)
Fleetwood Town: Alex Cairns, Conor McLaughlin, Amari’i Bell, Ashley Eastham, Nathan Pond, David Ball, Bobby Grant, George Glendon (87), Ashley Hunter (70), Kyle Dempsey (78), Ben Davies Subs: Matty Urwin, Cameron Brannagan (78), Wes Burns (70), Joe Davis, Victor Nirennold, Martyn Woolford, Markus Schwabl (87)
Attendance: 5629 (129 Fleetwood fans)