Saturday, January 3, 2009

West Brom 1-1 Peterborough

Craig Mackail-Smith (right) was the hero for Peterborough
Mackail-Smith (right) was the hero for Peterborough

Craig Mackail-Smith struck in the dying minutes to earn Peterborough an FA Cup third-round replay against Premier League opponents West Brom.

The League One side caused plenty of problems for the Baggies, with Mackail-Smith hitting the post early on.

But the home side led when Jonas Olsson glanced in a Jonathan Greening corner.

They could not hold onto their lead, however, as Mackail-Smith grabbed his 18th of the season by finishing off Aaron McLean's low cross.

Darren Ferguson's Posh side were well worth a second chance even though Baggies boss Tony Mowbray fielded his strongest available side.

Mackail-Smith was a handful throughout against an Albion side that completed a Carling Cup and FA Cup double over Peterborough last season.

He was denied by the woodwork after 22 minutes when he shook off the challenge of Leon Barnett on the left-hand side of the box and his curling effort beat Scott Carson only to rattle against the crossbar.

606: DEBATE
BaggieTrousers

Carson was the busier of the two goalkeepers and he went down to parry a low drive from McLean before grabbing the ball at the second attempt.

Chris Brunt had a fierce drive blocked by Craig Morgan but Posh were looking the more menacing and George Boyd would have been disappointed to slice a shot well wide.

The Baggies improved after the break and Luke Moore got behind the Posh defence, but after cutting back inside, his shot was blocked by Joe Lewis who had come off his line.

Lewis then parried a low drive by Greening and then clung on to the follow-up effort from substitute Jay Simpson.

With less than half an hour remaining Olsson broke the deadlock when Greening floated over a left-wing corner and the Baggies defender was first to react to steer a header into the corner.

Mackail-Smith should have equalised five minutes later but sent his header wide with the goal at his mercy from a Boyd cross.

Boyd had the ball in the net but he had strayed offside, however with three minutes left Mackail-Smith forced a replay when he turned home a cross from McLean.

No comments: