Frustration for Ferguson as Pirates keep Posh at bay

Peterborough United left to rue missed opportunities as Bristol Rover’s goalkeeper Joe Day hold’s his former club to a 0-0 stalemate at the Weston Homes Stadium.

Peterborough forward’s Jonson Clarke-Harris, Siriqi Dembele and Sammie Szmodics failed to capitalise on a number of goal-scoring chances to make it four consecutive League One victories on the bounce and move level on points with second-placed Hull City.

Despite producing 18 shots and 11 on-target, the Posh failed to truly test ex-goalkeeper Joe Day in the Bristol Rovers net.

The best chance of the match came when Dembele rounded the former Posh goalkeeper but was denied superbly by a sliding challenge from Alfie Kilgour.

The battling performance sees Paul Tisdale’s Gas end their run of five straight defeats in all competitions and delivers a huge confidence boost as they try and navigate away from the dreaded relegation zone.

Despite the initial sense of disappointment, the Cambridgeshire side remain unbeaten in seven league games and in touching distance of the automatic Play-Off places.

Eager to open the scoring early, Peterborough talisman Clarke-Harris had a great opportunity to put his team in front moments after kick-off when Dembele slid the former Pirates player through on goal, but his effort lacked the required power or placement to beat the Bristol Rovers goalkeeper.

Day, who started just four matches in four years for Posh before moving onto Newport County in 2015, had little time to reset before saving Dembele’s surging run and shot then grasping hold of Szmodics 25-yard low-driven strike.

It did not take long for full-back Dan Butler to get in on the action when he robbed the ball off Rovers’ defender Kilgour and burst towards goal, however, the shot that followed lacked the quality of his stunning strike at the Memorial Stadium in November and skewed widely off-target.

Charlton-loanee and ex-Posh midfielder Erhun Oztumer supplied a sumptuous ball over the top for Sam Nicholson in the 37th minute which encapsulated the Rovers growing influence on the match. Nicholson did well to meet it on the volley and beat Christy Pym, only for his strike to be denied by the outside of the post.

Momentum soon swung back in Posh’s favour as Dembele whipped an inviting cross into the box for Clarke-Harris though the striker was caught sleeping when Jack Baldwin, another familiar face at the Weston Homes Stadium, misjudged the flight of the ball.

Clarke-Harris’ subsequent first touch was poor and meant Tisdale’s men went into the break unscathed.

It took until just past the hour mark for the first noteworthy chance to unfold following the half-time interval. Dembele ran onto a brilliant Jack Taylor through ball and rounded the onrushing Day, but the winger’s shot was heroically cleared off the line by the recovering Kilgour to keep the game goalless.

With ten minutes left to play, substitutes Harrison Burrows and Ethan Hamilton combined to encroach the Pirates box, with the latter finding space and time to pull the trigger yet dragged his effort wide.

In spite of six minutes of injury time, neither side was able to produce the winner and instead left with a point apiece.

The draw sees Posh remain third while the Gas go one point clear of the relegation zone ahead of respective clashes with Shrewsbury Town and Rochdale at the weekend.

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