Peterborough United vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
Weston Homes StadiumAttendance9,426.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Peterborough and Blackburn Rovers at the Weston Homes Stadium as late goals from Sammie Szmodics and Jack Marriott sealed victory for the Posh.
Friday 15 April 2022 19:41, UK
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.
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "I couldn't see Peterborough scoring to be honest and we have to look at ourselves as to how we let those two goals in. It's really frustrating to work so hard to get in front after playing with 10 men for such a long period. It's a disappointing day. Managers have to be able trust players and maybe Edun was trying too hard having been out injured for a long time. He should have known better I think but it's done now. I'm certainly not going to be the coach who hammers referees every week. We had a Premier League referee today. Good luck to him.
"The lads are on the floor in the dressing room at the moment and we have to try to pick them up in the next few days. We're a very, very young team and young players find it hard. Sometimes they have to feel the pain to get better and I think our young lads are feeling that now. I've been in dressing rooms where people would be fighting right now and throwing punches at each other, but ours is quiet with lads lost for answers. We'll keep trying to help them and see where the season takes us."
Peterborough's Grant McCann: "We were outstanding in the first half when we matched a very good Blackburn team and more. A lot of people think it's easy to play against 10 men but in many ways it becomes harder. They defend in a low block and hit you on the counter-attack which is how the Blackburn goal came. But we showed real grit and determination to keep going, keep fighting, keep pushing and I was really happy with the two goals that won us the game. Sammie was absolutely brilliant despite having to play in an unfamiliar position and Jack showed again that he is a proven goal-scorer when he is fit.
"We've got four massive games coming up between now and the end of the season. The reality is we need to win all four of them and hope for others to give us a bit of luck along the way, but all we can do is worry about ourselves."
