Boro return to winning ways with 4-0 victory at Peterborough Sports
Jubilant Jono Greening enjoyed his first Christmas present as his depleted Seadogs romped to their biggest win of the season to climb back into the National North play-offs places.
The Boro boss paid tribute to his team’s ‘complete’ performance that brought four second-half goals and a much needed clean sheet.
“All over the pitch, every single one of them, played really well,” said Greening of his team.
“They competed, they worked really hard on the ball. We got back into shape quickly. We did all the dirty work really well.
“We know we’ve got a good team when everyone’s at it. You can’t win any football games if you’ve only got five or six at it, you need the full 11 and we had that today.”
Boro went into the match without centre-back Jake Hull, who suffered a badly bruised leg against Radcliffe in midweek, to add to an injury list that already contains Alex Brown, Alex Wiles, Lewis Maloney, Hiram Romero and Ste Walker.
However, they made light of that with a superb second-half show to grab all the points and bounce back from the disappointing home defeat to Radcliffe.
Greening admitted the hosts had caught him out with a change to their usual formation.
Boro switched to a three-man defence, with Noah Wadsworth and Jack Waldron pushed forward into wing-back positions either side of holding midfielders Alex Purver and Rocco Coyle.
“We knew they were very direct,” said the Boro boss. “We knew they played two up front but today they caught us out of it because they played more like a 4-5-1.
“They caught us off-guard a bit, but the shape seemed to work, so we kept with it.”
Richie Bennett was back in the starting line-up for the first time since August and his presence provided the muscular presence that had been missing from Boro’s attacks in recent weeks.
The Seadogs held the balance of play in the first half, but the hosts looked dangerous on the break, with chances few and far between for both sides.
Boro’s first chance fell to Luca Colville. He latched on to Alex Purver’s through-ball and cut into the penalty area before firing towards the near post, only for Peter Crook to save well.
Bennett had the chance to mark his return with a goal after 36 minutes when Crook’s poor clearance landed at his feet near the halfway line. He tried to send the ball back to the unguarded goal but his shot lacked pace and Crook recovered to gather in the six-yard box.
The Seadogs stunned the hosts with three goals in 10 minutes midway through the second half. The first came when man of the match Luca Colville slipped the ball across goal for the unmarked Dom Tear to strike from six yards.
Colville was then denied by Crook twice, with Tear also close to adding another.
That did not take much longer to arrive though as Boro stepped up a gear, with Colville again the provider. This time his corner was headed in at the far post by Kieran Weledji.
It was 3-0 after 71 minutes when Tear was taken down in the penalty area by Aaron Powell and Bennett stepped up to send Crook the wrong way from the spot, despite young home fans flashing lights behind the net.
Whitley saved well to deny the Turbines a consolation when Max Booth shot straight at him and it was soon 4-0 when Green’s corner found Weledji at the back post. This time his effort stayed out, but only after hitting Booth on the arm, bringing the home man a booking and Boro a second penalty.
It was left to substitute Allan to drive the ball hard and low into the bottom corner of the net, past Crook’s dive to complete a memorable day for the travelling Boro fans who made up almost a third of the crowd.
Whitley preserved a much-needed clean sheet in the third minute of stoppage time when he leaped acrobatically to his left to claw Dan Jarvis’ 20-yard effort away from the top corner of his goal.
Boro – Whitley, Weledji, Duckworth (Allan 78), Thornton, Wadsworth, Waldron, Purver, Coyle, Tear, Colville (Chapman 83), Bennett (Green 78). Unused sub – Walpole.
Peterborough – Crook, Oakley, Powell, McLintock (Davies 61), Stewart (Joshua 78), Wood, Felix, Whitehouse (Jarvis 67), Coulthirst, Carayol (Booth 54), Miller. Unused subs –Edwards, Faayke, Cadogan.
Referee – Liam Smith
Boro goals – Dom Tear (62), Kieran Weledji (67), Richie Bennett (71 pen), Rio Allan (89 pen).
Goal attempts –Sports 7 (4 on target), Boro 17 (10 on target)
Corners – Sports 2 Boro 3
Offsides – Sports 2 Boro 0
Yellow cards – Connor Wood (Sports) 32, Alex Purver (Boro) 70, Antony Stewart and Max Booth (Sports) 88.
Boro man of the match – Luca Colville
Attendance – 394 (120 away)