Lack of inspiration kills FA Cup magic – Peterborough United 0-2 Sunderland

Luckily I don’t have to write this very often but Posh let themselves down today. A combination of a lack of inspiration, some sloppy passing and very little possession in the second half resulted in a very poor performance from the boys in blue as once again they slipped out of the FA Cup in the third round at the hands of Premier League opposition. Good job no one was watching, oh wait the whole of the national media was there.

But credit where credit is due Sunderland were just more up for the game as their resurgence under Martin O’Neill continued. The Black Cats named a full strength side whereas Posh still had to name a bench full of youngsters due to injuries. Lee Tomlin was the only absentee who made his return to the squad.

In the first half everything went exactly to plan in the game that was billed as one of the potential giant killings if the round. Posh started off strong keeping hold of the ball. It took 10 minutes for Sunderland to break through and even then Joe Lewis was quickly on hand to palm away a long-range shot from Craig Gardener. At the other end Paul Taylor was causing all sorts of problems as he rounded three players before eventually firing wide. The only real chance of the half came when a fierce shot form James McClean rattled the top of the crossbar on 26 minutes.

Going in at 0-0 was seen as an achievement and something to build on but just three minutes after the break everything fell apart when a Seb Larsson free-kick missed everyone in the box and found its way into the bottom corner. Moments later Larsson would have made it two if it wasn’t for a smart save form Lewis. On 58 minutes Sunderland had doubled that lead when former Posh target McClean guided home a Larsson corner.

From that point it was game over Posh hardly saw the ball from then on and when they did they cheaply lost possession. Despite making a couple of changes the ball still couldn’t make it into the box as the disappointing game slipped away.

So in the end the Premier League team were just too strong and in the end this was a very comfortable result for them. It took them a while to get going but once the first goal went in there really was no way back. Oh well there’s always next year I guess.

Teams
Posh: Lewis, Alcock, Bennett, Zakuani, Wootton (Kearns: 52), Rowe (Little: 64), Tunnicliffe, Boyd, Taylor, Tomlin, Sinclair (Newell: 71). Unused subs: Jones, Thompson, Gordon-Hutton, Lawler.

Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, Cattermole, Larsson, Gardener (Elmohamady: 85), Richardson, Kilgallon, Vaughan (Meyler: 70), O’Shea, McClean, Sessegnon (Ji Dong-Won: 78). Unused subs: Turner, Wickham, Westwood, Noble.