It's been said a few times before but this was probably the biggest win in the short history of Bromsgrove Sporting. If not it is definitely the biggest scalp seeing off the runaway leaders of the division with a double and inflicting their first home defeat of the season.
Like the rest of the country, Peterborough basked in warm sunshine with many of the crowd watching in shirt sleeves and they were rewarded with both a good quality and tense game of football.
Early pressure from The Turbines saw them gain a couple of corners and the first shot of the match from Lewis Hilliard but it went way over the bar.
Then on the 11th minute Charlie Dowd took a thrown in, not far the from home goal-line, Liam Spink lobbed over a delightful cross into the middle of the box and there was Jason Cowley to volley into the centre of the Peterborough net to give his team a welcome lead and for Cowley his 99th goal in a Sporting shirt.
A few minutes later Dowd's daisy cutter went wide of the left-hand post whilst at the other end, Turbines captain Richard Jones headed narrowly over the bar.
Much of the play remained in midfield until there was 21 minutes on the clock when Nathan Hayward hoisted a long ball up field that found Dowd to the left of the home goal, it looked as if he would shoot but instead he sent a pass to the unmarked Kieran Westwood on the other side of the box who easily tapped in from a few yards out.
Avelino Viera had the best effort to date for Peterborough four minutes later but Sporting were still on the hunt for a third with Cowley firing over the bar and Josh Quaynor's free-kick getting deflected for a corner.
The home side though always looked to be dangerous on the break and so it happened on the 33rd minute when Dion Sembie-Ferris picked up a pass just inside the away half possibly offside but no flag was raised, he ran goalwards beating Kyle Lincoln before rounding Jono Brown and easily slotting home from 10 yards.
The goal looked to have livened up The Turbines but further shots from Viera and Hilliard failed to trouble Brown whilst Westwood also scoffed a loose ball over the bar just before the interval.
Little happened in the early stages of the second half but with four minute gone, lively midfielder Joshua McCammon made a surge forward only to be tripped by Liam Spink in full flight. Cue for a 20 man melee and a far bit of argy-bargy. Once the dust settled referee Mr Dadley red-carded Peterborough's Paul Malone for a head butt whilst hardly surprising Spink got a yellow as did Aaron Roberts and Richard Jones.
From then on it was a tale of two defences who successfully kept each other out until full-time though Quaynor had a good angled shot saved low by Lewis Moat whilst Dowd was unlucky not to get on to the score sheet with a couple of minutes remaining after making a dazzling run through the home defence only for his low shot to be well-saved by Moat.
After four minutes of tense added time, Mr Dadley finally blew for the end prompting the best celebrations seen since winning the Midland Football League last season.
The win sends Sporting back to the top by two points but The Turbines have three games in hand. However there is still plenty of football to play this season.
Peterborough: Lewis Moat, Mitchell Griffiths, Johnny Herd, Paul Malone, Richard Jones (Capt.), Daniel Lawlor (James Stevenson 60 mins), Avelino Viera (Stuart Wall 53 mins), Joshua McCammon (Joshua Moreman 64 mins), Mark Jones, Lewis Hilliard, Dion Sembie-Ferris.
Substitutes not used: Abduramane Salo-Sani, Daniel Bucciero.
Goal: Dion Sembie-Ferris (33 mins).
Red: Paul Malone (51 mins)
Yellows: Richard Jones (51 mins), Mark Jones (87 mins)
Sporting: Jono Brown, Liam Spink, Jack Wilson (John Pykett 64 mins), Nathan Hayward, Aaron Roberts, Kyle Lincoln, Charlie Dowd, Josh Quaynor (Capt.), Jason Cowley, Cameron Peters (Jake Heath 70 mins), Kieran Westwood.
Substitutes not used: Tom Rankin, Dan O'Sullivan
Goals: Jason Cowley (11 mins), Kieran Westwood (21 mins).
Yellows: Liam Spink (51 mins), Aaron Roberts (51 mins), Jason Cowley (83 mins), Charlie Dowd (88 mins).
Referee: Mr R Dadley (Bedworth)
Assistants: Mr M Jackson (Sutton-in-Ashfield), Mr W Ottaway (Rugby).
Sporting MoM: Charlie Dowd
Crowd: 391
Weather: Warm, sunny.
Report: Phil Baker |