St Neots Town F.C.
Supporting the saints online

Another pre-season friendly in front of a large Rowley Park crowd again resulted in a narrow defeat at the hands of higher graded opposition. However once again St Neots performed very creditably and were unlucky not to salvage a draw from a strong second half performance with all the goals coming in the first half. St Neots made four changes from the starting line up fielded against Luton Town whilst Peterborough fielded some very impressive triallists who could well start the season in their Championship side.

Like in their first match St Neots began in confident mood and created the best early chances. The lively Tony Scully saw a net bound shot deflected for a corner and then he inspired the move from which Josh Sozzo shot narrowly over the bar with the visiting keeper beaten. Peterborough replied with Nathan Koranteng bursting through to thud a shot into the chest of Ian Brown and then Sergio Torres fired over the bar. The end to end action continued with Brown twisting in the air to push away a shot by Josh Capocci and then the visitors took a 19^th minute lead. Knight conceded a free kick almost 30 yards from goal and Jay Davies produced a perfectly placed curling free kick beyond the keeper into the far corner of the net. Steve Dogbe joined the attack to see his shot dropped by the visiting keeper but Carl Piergianni was on hand to clear and from a Parys Okai free kick Nicky Hurst headed just wide. However St Neots deserved their equaliser after29 minutes when Knight fed Sozzo on the left and his weighted cross set up Shane Fox who scored at the second attempt. Eight minutes later the St Neots defence was split by a quick break from the back with Torres setting up Scott Rendell to finish with a close range tap-in.

The visitors introduced four substitutes at half time and St Neots brought on Matt Kenneford and the towering Leon Simpson. Ian Edge went close to levelling with a cross shot that skimmed the bar and Torres showed great skill at the other end to go clear but shot wide. Tony Scully was a constant worry to the visiting defence and he set up Matt Kenneford whose shot was well saved. Edward Adjei brought on to lead the Peterborough attack showed great pace an imagination and kept Glen Fuff at full stretch and he went clear but Luke McShane narrowed his angle to block well. St Neots had an excellent spell midway through the second half with Leon Simpson and Tony Scully both close to a second equaliser and then Simpson rose high to place a header on top of the cross bar. At the other end Adjei also found the woodwork with a shot on the turn and with the pace never faltering the crowd were treated to an exciting spectacle. St Neots had the last word with another Scully shot deflected for a corner. Next up at Rowley Park it is Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday 28^th July.

Peterborough XI - (1^st half) Sam Cole, Matt Bishop, Danny Blanchett, Jay Davies, Carl Piergiani, Danny Andrews, Sergio Torres, Josh Capocci, Reni Howe, Scott Rendell, Nathan Koranteng.

• Team: Ian Brown, Steve Dogbe, Kevin Ashby, Luke Knight, Glen Fuff, Nicky Hurst, Tony Scully, Ian Edge, Shane Fox, Josh Sozzo, Parys Okai.
• Subs: Luke McShane, Matt Bannister, Leon Simpson, Matt Kenneford, Lee Bassett, Dominic Cadamatre.
• Man of Match:

Match date: Wed 15th July 2009