Gr-eight stuff from Peterborough United as in-form striker makes it six goals in three games in eight days
Brad Inhionvien scored a hat-trick in Peterborough United’s 8-1 thumping of Peterborough Sports at PIMS Park, capping off an incredible summer.
A few months ago, even his own manager had written off the center-forward’s Posh future. However, in the previous three friendlies, the 21-year-old has answered with six goals. Before scoring his treble in the opening minute of the second half, he had the opportunity to score five goals in the first half.
For the second occasion in eight days, Posh showed little affection for their neighbors, and Gustav Lindgren (twice), Kyrell Lisbie, Harley Mills, and Abraham Odoh also scored goals. This result had some value because Sports had held League One team Doncaster Rovers to a 1-1 draw on the same field on Saturday. Posh had a fantastic season after losing this match two years prior.
With attacker Jacob Wakeling returning from the wilderness and captain and center-back Sam Hughes returning from injury, there were a few shocks in the Posh starting lineup.
Sports fielded Shaquile Coulthirst and Aaron Powell, two former Posh players. Josh Cavallo, a new Australian acquisition, began on Sports’ bench as a substitute.
Posh and their in-form shooter, the rehabilitated Ihionvien, had a pretty good start. In the first minute, he watched a shot go off the line before Archie Collins was unable to convert the rebound. Sixty seconds later, he finished neatly dinked and on target.
Thoughts naturally turned to winning 6-0 to match the most recent encounter at Stamford, but a sloppy first half performance was brought on by some bad passing and an uneven playing surface.
After the same set-piece, Posh ‘keeper Nick Bilokapic made saves against home center-backs Michael Gash and Ryan Fryatt. Crook then did well to palm away a fantastic chip from 25 yards out that would have given Ihionvien a second goal.
However, Sports was consistently putting Posh behind them, and they earned their equalizer when Kaine Felix’s deep ball was nodded back across goal for an unguarded Max Booth to score. In the match against Doncaster, Booth also scored for Sports.
But two minutes later, Ihionvien raced around Crook and tapped into an empty net after intercepting a careless back pass. And two minutes later, Odoh took Wakeling’s ball and finished with skill from a sharp angle. Ihionvien’s close-range header from a corner touched the top of the crossbar,
But in the last moment of the half, he ought to have completed his hat-trick. That made no difference, though, since in the opening minute of the second half, Ihionvien scored his hat-trick with a precise ball after Cian Hayes’ incredible forward run.
Harley Mills, one of the five substitutes that Posh had sent on at halftime, made it 5-1 on minute 49 with a very tasty effort from the edge of the area.
After the break, Posh took complete charge and their passing was undoubtedly crisper. After a good set-up by Chris Conn-Clarke, Lindgren made it 6-1 on 65 minutes, five minutes after entering the game.
Twenty minutes from the end, a brawl between Ashton Fox, a former Posh defender, and George Nevett, a current center-back, turned into a free-for-all and two yellow cards.
The fact that a number of Nevett’s teammates arrived on the scene promptly was likely appreciated by the Posh administration. Since they resumed training, Posh has made unity their guiding principle. They have scored 15 goals in their quick three-game victory streak, including one against a Championship team.
With Declan Frith providing the assist, Lindgren appeared to have given the final word with another clinical finish three minutes from time, but Lisbie had time to add an eighth goal in the dying seconds.
Posh: Collins (sub O’Brien-Brady, 61 minutes), De Havilland (sub Khela, 46 minutes), Hayes (sub Mendonca, 60 minutes), Odoh (sub Frith, 60 minutes), Wakeling (sub Conn-Clarke, 46 minutes), Hughes (sub Nevett, 46 minutes), Freeman (sub Mills, 46 minutes), Bilokapic (sub Bass, 46 minutes), and Ihionvien (sub Lindgren, 60 minutes).
Sports: Booth (sub Cavallo, 60 minutes), Brown, Miller, Felix, Crook, Trialist, Gash, Fryatt, Powell, McLintock, and Coulthirst. Subs: Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Jarvis, Edwards, Fox.
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