Peterborough VS Sheffield sealed their semi-final berth in the League One play-off like a vice with a 4-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the first leg. To make up for the 19-point disparity between these two clubs during the regular season, Jack Taylor and Joe Ward scored in the first half, and Kwame Poku and Jonson Clarke-Harris scored after the break at Weston Homes Stadium. To prevent a repetition of last year’s semi-final exit, it leaves Wednesday with a mountain to climb in the second leg at Hillsborough on Thursday.
Darren Moore will also remember how Peterborough managed to sneak into the playoffs by defeating Derby on the penultimate day of the season. Sheffield Wednesday had 96 points at the end of the season, more than any previous side that did not finish in the top two of any English league in the club’s 155-year history. However, this is the playoffs, where anything can happen, and all of the hard work was undone in 50 minutes. After 20 minutes, a Taylor shot got past Cameron Dawson at the near post, despite the fact that Dawson should have done a lot better with it.
Peterborough VS Sheffield 4-0 | One play-off semi-final
After 36 minutes, the lead had been doubled. This was made worse for the Owls by Ward’s audacious 25-yard shot, which took a tremendous deflection off of Marvin Johnson and looped past Dawson and into the net. Poku added a third not long after the break, heading home in yards of space following a probing cross from Ephron Bricklayer Clark down the left side. Peterborough was in dreamland.
Darren Moore made changes as Lee Gregory and Dennis Adeniran were introduced. However, on Wednesday, Clarke-Harris scored from close range to make it four in the late moments. “I had no idea that would happen that way,” stated Plymouth CEO Steven Schumacher. That demonstrates the devastation Peterborough can inflict. If they score their first goal, they can completely destroy you. They gave an outstanding performance and deserved to win. “I thought Peterborough would be a little more conservative,” after falling behind, but “they went at Peterborough and got hit on the counter.”
Jobi McAnuff said:
Peterborough completely blew me away. Their intensity during the break, as well as the quickness with which they replied. Darren Ferguson deserves a lot of credit for changing the club’s direction and getting them into the playoffs. He has fortified their defence and provided a framework for the attacking talents we witnessed tonight. Sheffield Wednesday couldn’t keep up with their front four. It wasn’t just the end goal. With his sprinting ability from midfield, he has caused countless problems for Sheffield Wednesday. He has been outstanding.” Darren Ferguson of Peterborough:
“The first goal in a long time like this is always critical, and I have to say my custodian has made a huge save at 0-0.” That could have perhaps redirected the game. My players, on the other hand, were outstanding. The performance was outstanding.
“It was fantastic for us to win Peterborough VS Sheffield 4-0, and I’m probably just as pleased with the clean sheet as I am with the goals because they force you to defend set pieces.” Regardless, it’s only a piece of a game gone, tragically. There cannot be any carelessness. We’d like to win the game at Hillsborough. That’s how we’ll approach it; that’s the mindset we have. I believed we couldn’t go there and lose in a draw, but we did, and we did it beautifully.”
Darren Moore, of Sheffield Wednesday, says:
“Right now, it’s a difficult night for us, and if you tried to put it into words right now, you probably wouldn’t find the right ones.” We need to recover and plan for the next week.”In games, mistakes happen, and Cameron Dawson deals with them nine times out of ten. Because it was a regular save, it’s the only thing we can think of on a night like tonight when emotions are running high and concentration is slipping.
The other is the reversed shot, so when you go two down, the next objective is always going to be urgent. We debated it at halftime, it went to them, and then the game went our way. “It’s a big job, but at this point, all we can do is focus on tonight’s game and prepare for next week.” It’s a big uphill task.”