Evans demands even more after Peterborough extend their perfect start

Posted Sunday, August 19, 2018 by PA

Steve Evans watched Peterborough continue their stunning start with a first-half demolition of Luton – then challenged his high-flyers to start producing 90-minute performances.

Posh only needed to be at their best for the opening period to roar to a third League One triumph in as many games with a 3-1 victory.

Jason Cummings earned and converted a 17th minute penalty which was quickly followed by Siriki Dembele’s first goal for the club just two minutes later.

And the points were in the bag eight minutes before the break when Dembele turned provider for Scotland international Cummings to strike again.

Luton thought they had a lifeline moments later when referee Graham Salisbury pointed to the spot after Elliot Lee went down under a Colin Daniel challenge, but he changed his decision following a discussion with his assistant.

The visitors had to wait until the 78th minute for a consolation as Jack Stacey struck after Posh took their feet of the gas, but they had already done more than enough to march on.

Evans said: “Luton are a terrific club with a great manager and some top players, but they simply couldn’t deal with us in the first half.

“They changed their system because they were frightened of our attacking players and we showed why.

“There’s no doubt it was a penalty and a brilliant second goal quickly followed. Young Siriki did superbly again to make the third goal and we could easily have had more in that first half.

“The referee did the right thing to over-rule his decision for the Luton penalty. We’ll stop playing football if tackles like that are deemed fouls.

“We didn’t have the same control in the second half and the challenge for us now is to make sure we get the intensity we showed in that first 45 minutes into every minute of every game.”

Luton chief Nathan Jones admitted his side had been thoroughly outplayed in the first half but was encouraged by what he saw after the break.

“I thought tactically Peterborough were better than us in the first half when they also outfought and outworked us,” he said.

“Their first goal did come from what should have been a foul to us on the edge of their box, but that sounds like sour grapes.

“I’m taking nothing away from them but we also did so much that was avoidable.

“I’m disappointed with our first-half performance but I take responsibility tactically – I got it wrong, totally wrong.

“I should have trusted what we do normally but I felt a different way could have caused them problems.

“I can’t defend our first-half performance and we went back to our normal game in the second half. If we’d have done that all day it would have been a closer result.”