Goals from Sowerby and Grant seal impressive win
A truly dominant display from start to finish from Fleetwood Town saw they record a comfortable 2-0 win over Peterborough United.
Goals in either half from Jack Sowerby and Bobby Grant gave the Cod Army a well-deserved win which see’s Town climb up to 13thin Sky Bet League One.
Uwe Rosler made two changes to the side which drew 1-1 with Sheffield United last time out. Youngsters Ashley Hunter and Sowerby come in for Michael Duckworth and Chris Long.
A late enforced change for Peterborough saw George Moncur replace Marcus Maddison who had to be left out due to illness. Matthew Stevens came onto the bench.
Town dominated from the off as Hunter went on a great run in just the first minute down the right hand side which saw him fouled. David Ball’s free kick was an early warning for Peterborough as it went just wide.
Then came the opening goal just moments later. Hunter was again involved, laying the ball off for Ball whose wonderful pass to send Sowerby through on goal. The 21 year-old kept his head and buried it past Luke McGee into the bottom corner to put Town 1-0 up after 2 minutes.
Peterborough came into the game after 13 minutes with Hayden White getting the better of Amari’i Bell winning a corner. Jack Baldwin found space in the box but fires blazed his effort well over the bar.
The Posh started to threaten the Cod Army’s goal when Ryan Tafazolli found himself unmarked at a corner but could only head the ball straight at Chris Neal.
Town continued to trouble the visitors down the wing as this time David Ball drilled a cross low into the box and Hunter couldn’t get the vital touch to divert it into the net.
Hunter was a real handful for Peterborough and won a free kick on the edge of the box in the 31stminute. Ball stepped up and forced McGee into a top save to prevent Town doubling their lead.
An exciting first half finished with Peterborough causing problems, as White beat Bobby Grant to the ball and found Coulthirst in the box to spin his man and get a shot away and it looped over the bar for the final attempt of the half.
Town made a substitute early in the second half as Devante Cole came on to replace Ashley Hunter who went down injured at the end of the first half. Straight away Cole had an impact as his pass sent Grant away who cut in on his right foot and curled a shot inches wide of the post.
In the 62ndminute the ball broke free to David Ball whose shot was expertly blocked at the near post and cleared out of play for a corner. Ball’s corner then found Pond unmarked whose header went towards the back post to Ashley Eastham whose effort was blocked on the line.
Eventually in the 65thminute Town’s pressure paid off as a great touch from Cole saw him break free of the defence and whip an inch perfect ball into the box to find Grant to hit it first time into the bottom corner to double the Cod Army’s advantage. On closer inspection it looked like it took a slight deflection off Baldwin on the way in.
Substitute Cole was a thorn in Borough’s side since he was introduced to the game and in the 75thminute he nearly sent Fleetwood home and dry. His right foot effort smacked against the cross bar and Bobby Grant’s volley subsequently went wide.
Fleetwood saw out late pressure from Borough as they ran out 2-0 winners on the day with their first clean sheet in six games.
Attendance: 2,711 (332 away)
FTFC:Neal (GK), McLaughlin, Bell, Eastham, Pond ©, Ryan, Ball, Grant, Hunter, Sowerby, Dempsey. Subs: Cairns (GK), Jonsson, Bolger, Nirennold, Woolford, Cole, Jakubiak
Peterborough: McGee (GK), Hughes, Tafazolli, Baldwin, Edwards, Forrester ©, Moncur, Coulthirst, Da Silva Lopes, White, Nichols. Subs: Tyler (GK), Smith, Taylor, Almeida Santos, Chettle, Oduwa, Stevens