Siriki Dembele shines as Peterborough put Shrewsbury to the sword

Peterborough United forward Siriki Dembele scored a hattrick, and assisted another goal, as Posh moved into first in League One with a 5-1 victory against ten-man Shrewsbury Town.

The Shrews actually started the game brighter than their opponents but were undone by a long ball which Dembele got on the end of and then rounded the keeper, before Harry Burgoyne tackled him to give the hosts a penalty.

Jonson Clarke-Harris dispatched the penalty to put Peterborough ahead against the run of play, but within a couple of minutes Shrewsbury got the goal their start to the game deserved. Marc Pugh’s cross was perfect for Josh Daniels, on his first league start, to head past Christy Pym.

Shrewsbury continued to edge the game as the half went on, Charlie Daniels in particular causing problems with set piece deliveries and long throws, but the Shrews went behind again just before half time. Another long ball caught out Shrewsbury’s high defence, with Dembele running onto it and then cutting inside past two players before curling a shot into the bottom corner.

Few players had really stood out for the hosts in the first half but Siriki Dembele had, and he was on the end of rough challenges throughout the afternoon. A rash challenge from Josh Vela on Dembele on the stroke of half-time saw him receive a straight red card, giving Shrewsbury an uphill challenge in the second half.
Embed from Getty Images

Three minutes into the second half and Dembele could have had a second assist, after working the ball to Sammie Szmodics in space, but the former Bristol City man curled an effort over the bar.

Despite being down to ten-men, Shrewsbury were still going for it and still largely having the better of the play. Charlie Daniels, Josh Daniels, and Scott High all had efforts from outside the box that they will feel they should have done better with.

Just before the hour Ollie Norburn became the latest to put in a strong challenge on Dembele, and was booked.

Shrewsbury thought they’d claimed an equaliser moments later, a shot dropped off the crossbar and may have looped over the line before being claimed by Pym. Shrewsbury’s players appealed but the officials did not give it.

Despite Shrewsbury attacking for large periods, it was starting to feel like Peterborough were inviting the visitors onto them in an attempt to catch them on the counter-attack. It worked in the first half, with Peterborough scoring both of their goals after long balls forward caught the Shrewsbury defence out, and it worked in the second half too.

With just over 20 minutes to go another long ball forward looking for Dembele was headed down by a Shrewsbury defender, but only as far as Szmodics who then played in Joe Ward on the right who crossed in for Dembele who turned the ball in off the post to put the game beyond doubt.

The final 15 minutes were all Peterborough and they looked like scoring every time they went forward, making Shrewsbury’s good spell seem a very long time ago,

Dembele was again taken down in the 77th minute, this time by Ethan Ebanks-Landell who was rewarded with a yellow card. He was a constant threat and Shrewsbury did their best to nullify him, but if anything, it looked to encourage him.

With ten minutes to go, another Peterborough counter ended with Dembele receiving the ball on the edge of the box, he rounded Burgoyne for the second time in the game and this time fired into the empty net to complete his first senior hat-trick.

Dembele did not stop there, and very nearly got another assist late on, after some good work on the edge of the box he played in Dan Butler, whose fierce effort was well saved by Burgoyne.

Jack Taylor scored past Burgoyne from outside the box at the second attempt to round off the win with two minutes to go on the clock.

Compared to the second half, Dembele’s first half had been quite quiet, yet he had still ended up with a goal, an assist and being fouled resulting in a red card. His second half performance though was immense. He added another two goals and should have had more assists, but his teammates were lacking the finishing touch on those occasions.

While 5-1 is a comprehensive result, this could have been a bigger score-line based on Peterborough’s dominance in the final 20 minutes, but it could have been a completely different game had Shrewsbury not shot themselves in the foot just before half time, and with a number of Posh’s goals.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt