Peterborough Utd’s youth-team powered into the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup with 4-0 win over Aston Villa at London Road last night.
Goals from Jaanai Gordon, Jevani Brown, Levi Wright and Charlie Coulson gave Gavin Strachan’s side a comprehensive victory over their Premier League opponents, who were finalists in 2010 and knocked the Posh out of the competition in 2010-11 en-route to the semi’s.
Jaanai Gordon, who featured for the Posh first-team at the weekend was the star of the show – causing the Midlanders all sorts of problems with his power and pace.
So it was no surprise when he opened the scoring in the 10th minute, converting a Charlie Coulson free-kick at the far post.
He then turned from scorer to provider, with a good run down the right-wing and precise pass to lay on a second for Javani Brown ten minutes before the break.
Villa’s best chance of the first period came midway through the half when Irish prospect Jack Grealish missed with a header.
Levi Wright taps in Peterborough’s third goal (www.theposhpics.com)
The second half saw the visitors enjoy long spells of possession but for all their neat passing they struggled to find a way past Alex Lynch in the Peterborough goal.
In contrast Villa’s efforts to salvage anything from the match were undermined by two goalkeeping errors which compounded their defeat.
First, on the hour mark, Levi Wright tapped into an unguarded net after Villa custodian Craig Hill let a ball squirm from his grasp straight to the feet of the substitute.
Then ten minutes later, Hill suffered further anguish as he struggled to collect an overhit pass which enabled a chasing Coulson to walk the ball into an empty net.
Charlie Coulson celebrates his goal (www.theposhpics.com)
A crowd of close to a 1,000, which included chairman Darragh MacAnthony, first-team manager Darren Ferguson and assistant boss Kevin Russell, gave the Peterborough youngsters a standing ovation at the final whistle.
Posh chairman MacAnthony was clearly impressed with what he saw, tweeting:
“Sensational performance from our young lads tonight. Some great work carried out by unsung heroes Dave Robertson and Gavin Strachan.”
“Safe to say we have some serious teenage talent at Posh.”
The result marked a bad night for the Villans whose first-team were humbled by Bradford City in the Captial One Cup. Peterborough’s youngsters will now travel to Leicester City for the next round.
