Peterborough 3-3 Exeter City: Eight Minutes Of Madness

Credit: Rob Atherton

You’ll never win anything with kids. While that remains much-debated, one thing that’s been made evident this weekend is that defending with a team full of young players making their first forays into the world of first-team football is quite the challenge. The two youngest sides in the division may have given their own supporters heart palpitations with some of their work at the back in Peterborough, but it was a great show for the neutral. A career-first goal, an eight minute hat-trick and a huge comeback were all on the menu as a manager-less Exeter side looking to extend the gap to the drop zone travelled to face a Peterborough team who will still fancy themselves as an outside shout for the play-offs.

On paper this game looked fairly innocuous, and the first-half played out exactly as was to be expected. Exeter lost their manager, Gary Caldwell, to his old club Wigan last week and are still under the interim charge of Dan Green. They sit firmly in the lower-mid table portion of the league that isn’t at any real risk of relegation as long as they don’t do anything silly, and they probably won’t trouble those vying for a chance at Championship promotion either. Posh are a few points further down the road and almost perfectly bisect the league, in no danger of facing the drop after recovering from their horrendous start. They could just about mount a charge for the final play-off spot, but they're stuck in a log jam of seven other sides with the same ambitions as them, but with larger financial muscles to flex. Exeter don’t travel particularly well and Peterborough aren’t fantastic at home either, all the makings for a solid, yet unremarkable 1-0 or 1-1 type of game. Both sides did everything they could to reinforce those preconceptions in the first period, too.

The largely uneventful first 45 will live long in the memory of one man in particular, 17 year-old Peterborough midfielder Patryk Sykut. The young Ukrainian reacted well to intercept the ball and bring it under control as Exeter failed to clear their lines. Despite multiple challenges, he managed to bounce and shield his way through four bodies and work some space just inside the area before rolling the ball into the bottom corner and beyond the reach of Crystal Palace loanee Joe Whitworth in goal. It was the teenager’s first start for the senior team after making four appearances off the bench in recent weeks, and he more than justified his inclusion by getting himself on the scoresheet to open his account for Posh, and his career as a whole. You never forget your first.

I’d love to tell you more about the opening period but that really is about it. Peterborough kept Whitworth on his toes with a couple of speculative efforts that were never really going to be successful, and the visitors failed to even register a shot on target for the entirety of the first half. Poor Alex Bass in the Posh net must have been freezing. Exeter had, frankly, been dire. Interim boss Dan Green, who essentially has nothing to lose in his position, decided to roll the dice and make two substitutions at the interval to change his side’s shape and try and get them on the front foot and creating more. I doubt even he expected the switch-up to be quite as effective as it wound up being. Just nine minutes after the second-half kicked off Exeter took a 3-1 lead.

So, how did we get from a drab 1-0 between two serviceable, yet unremarkable, mid-table League One sides to the game of the weekend in the third tier in such a short space of time? Step forward, Jayden Wareham. When you’re a team like Exeter that creates little in terms of chances, it’s important you have a striker who is capable of putting them away when they do come. Wareham was fairly isolated for the entirety of the game, managing just twelve touches of the ball before he was subbed off after 77 minutes. Still, from those twelve touches he fashioned four shooting opportunities, scoring three of them with the ruthless efficiency required of a striker feeding off of that level of service. A hat-trick today takes him up to fourteen goals in League One for Exeter after joining for free in summer, an impressive tally for a forward plying his trade in the lower half of the division and one that will certainly have piqued bigger teams’ interest before the upcoming transfer window.

Peterborough’s inexperience was exposed in the stark light of day, with all three goals coming in quick succession and all from almost the exact same situation. Finnish wide-man Ilmari Niskanen made a late push for best supporting actor at the BAFTAs, being the main creative force behind each Exeter goal to take his tally to twelve assists for the season in all competitions. Posh simply couldn’t cope with Exeter’s width, their defence was far too narrow for the first goal and allowed Niskanen the freedom of the right-hand side. The goal came from a simple out-ball from midfield, finding the Finn in acres of space with plenty of time to pick out a cross. His ball in was perfect, allowing Wareham to nod home a header from close range to level up the scores immediately following the restart. Game on.

Peterborough’s left-back Carl Johnston learned from his prior error, coming out to meet Niskanen as he received a pass to stop another dangerous cross into the area. Unfortunately for the home side, this left them exposed centrally. Niskanen tapped the ball back inside to midfielder Jack Aitchison who was able to slide it through to a wide-open Wareham in the box. Wareham took a touch, inviting the ‘keeper out to him before cutely dinking it into the far corner to give his side the lead and complete the turnaround just six minutes after he’d equalised.

Not satisfied with just a brace, two minutes later Exeter doubled their lead. They won the ball back from the restart and began to progress the ball down the right through Niskanen again. If it ain’t broke. With Aitchison lurking centrally and Niskanen once again making a run down the flank, Johnston was caught in two minds as to where to position himself as he received no support from his teammates. His indecision made Exeter’s mind up for them, allowing them to get the ball out wide to Niskanen in space once more and allowing him time to whip a low ball across the face of goal. Wareham, hungry for the match ball, ghosted in front of the covering centre-half to bundle home his third of the afternoon in a mad eight minute spell. The visitors celebrated wildly, the dull ache caused by those rock-hard wooden seats in the away end at the Weston Homes Stadium fading as their team looked on course to win their first game since the 24th of January.

Despite their youth, Posh showed incredible grit to battle their way back into the game, an attribute that has become synonymous with the side ever since Luke Williams took charge and changed their fortunes earlier in the campaign. They needed a response quickly or they risked sinking without a trace if Exeter began to slow the game down and take control. On-loan Blackburn forward Harry Leonard was on hand to give them that all-important lifeline. Just four minutes after they’d gone 3-1 down, and just a minute after he’d been brought on, substitute Cian Hayes bent in a corner that evaded the Exeter defence at the front post. Leonard was there to glance the ball beyond Whitworth and half the deficit almost immediately after it had been doubled. That goal breathed life back into the home crowd and gave them the belief they needed to will their team back into this game.

The sixth goal did eventually come, with just over ten minutes remaining on the clock. Another Posh corner was swung in before being punched clear on this occasion, the ball falling to Jimmy-Jay Morgan at the edge of the area. The midfielder used his strength to hold off Aitchison before knocking it past him to create a crossing opportunity down the opposite side to the corner. His ball in was deflected but still found its way through to Leonard, who just had to stoop down to head the ball into a wide-open goal and level things back up at 3-3. The forward was left completely unmarked by Pierce Sweeney, the only man to have reached 30 that started the game. Turns out it’s not just the young lads that struggled defending.

Peterborough came the closest to an equaliser, again from a corner, as Kyrell Lisbie spurned a great chance and his header was well saved by Whitworth to keep the scores level. 3-3 was how the game finished, a fantastic spectacle for the neutral but a result that neither team will be truly happy with. To drop points from a 3-1 lead away from home is disappointing to say the least, and while picking up another point does keep the relegation zone at arms length, they need to start turning draws into wins if they’re to guarantee their safety. Peterborough will be equally frustrated, all their hard work from the first-half undone in a  spell of madness culminated in a draw at home to an Exeter side that they just have to beat if they’re going to challenge for the play-offs. It might be too early to call, but I think it’s just about season over for both of these sides in regards to having a chance at leaving the division through either end of the table.

Exeter’s goal is always survival, and after Peterborough’s horrendous start to the season they’ll certainly settle for mid-table. Their young lads are developing nicely and they both look set to profit from smart recruitment and trusting in youth where most sides would turn to experienced pros. A great game for those seeking entertainment, and one to learn from and cherish for some of the young players on show.

The kids are alright.