Peterborough mount late fightback to beat Blackburn

Posted Saturday, April 16, 2022 by PA

Peterborough produced a sensational comeback to cling onto their Championship status a little longer courtesy of a 2-1 triumph against 10-man Blackburn.

Grant McCann’s men were all but relegated when falling behind to Ben Brereton Diaz’s opener at the Weston Homes Stadium.

But Posh roared back to level through Sammie Szmodics before substitute Jack Marriott completed the turnaround to lift them off the bottom of the table.

All of the drama arrived in the space of 10 minutes late on and had a major impact at both ends of the table, with Posh still fighting to survive while Rovers’ play-off bid suffered a serious blow.

Tony Mowbray’s men were up against it from the moment they had midfield man Tayo Edun dismissed late in the first half.

Edun endured a miserable return from more than two-and-a-half months out with an ankle problem as his first Rovers appearance since January 29 lasted just 41 minutes.

The midfielder picked up a needless caution for a trip on Josh Knight midway through the opening period and then received his marching orders from referee Chris Kavanagh for pulling back Jeando Fuchs.

Posh should really have been ahead by then, with Szmodics seeing an early effort kept out by Thomas Kaminski before dragging another shot across the face of goal after picking the pocket of Darragh Lenihan.

Kaminski also blocked a Kwame Poku shot before producing his best stop to tip over an acrobatic Jonson Clarke-Harris volley following the finest move of the first half which involved Fuchs, Harrison Burrows and Ricky-Jade Jones.

Rovers did succeed in finding the net in the opening period, although the celebrations of Brereton Diaz were quickly cut short by the whistle of Kavanagh.

The 20-goal hitman thought he had struck for the first time in an injury-interrupted 2022 but was adjudged to have fouled Knight in the process of rising to head a Ryan Nyambe cross past Dai Cornell.

Chilean international Brereton Diaz did finally succeed in ending his own drought and breaking the deadlock in the 77th minute when expertly controlling a ball into the box from Jan Paul van Hecke and rifling past Cornell at his near post.

But any thoughts of Rovers defying their numerical disadvantage to claim a big success in their promotion bid were soon dispelled.

Their lead lasted for just six minutes before Szmodics latched on to a clever Burrows pass and slotted past Kaminski, with Rovers unhappy that an apparent foul on Brereton Diaz in the build-up went unpunished.

And even better soon followed for Posh as Marriott curled a terrific finish into the far corner after receiving a Clarke-Harris lay-off to trigger wild celebrations from the hosts and leave Rovers shell-shocked.