Posh 1-1 Wednesday

Wednesday bagged their second draw from as many Championship games as Craig Mackail-Smith rescued a point for Posh in an even contest at a sun-drenched London Road on Saturday.

Both sides went into the clash unbeaten from their opening two matches of the campaign, and there was little to separate either side, with a draw seemingly the right result on the day.

But it was possibly Wednesday who could leave London Road with their heads held high, with Posh having a top notch home record which lead them to promotion last season – not many teams will leave there with the maximum three points this season.

Wednesday made just one change to the side that drew at Barnsley last weekend, with Jermaine Johnson’s double in the Carling Cup clash with Rochdale giving boss Brian Laws plenty of food for thought.

Jet-heeled Johnson partnered Marcus Tudgay in attack, with Francis Jeffers dropping to the bench and Sean McAllister moved to the right hand side of midfield.

And the inclusion of Johnson as a striker certainly proved a positive one, with the Jamaican causing the Posh defence plenty of problems in attack, and putting strike partner Tudgay to shame with his work rate and creativity.

As with the previous weekend, Wednesday had enjoyed the best of the first half, although Darren Ferguson’s men certainly weren’t out of the clash at 1-0 down at half-time.

Striker Aaron Mclean was the danger man going into the clash, and it was he who came closest in the opening exchanges when his neat lob beat Lee Grant but hit the roof of the net.

The Owls enjoyed good spells of possession football bbut did little to trouble Peterborough stopper Joe Lewis early on.

That was untril midfield man James O’Connor popped up to reward his fine early season form with a neat header that gave the Wednesday masses gathered behind the goal something to cheer.

The goal came on 21 minutes as Tudgay, relatively quiet throughout, produced a sparkling cross for O’Connor to jump highest and direct his header into the bottom corner of Lewis’ goal.

Wednesday settled on their lead and never really threatened the Posh goal before the interval, but the Owls were equally comfortable at the back, bar a Charlie Lee effort for the hosts which he should have done better with.

Wednesday knew of their poor second-half form against Barnsley last time out in the league and Brian Laws’ teamtalk much have focussed on the fact they needed a second half to match the first if they were to leave with three points.

But Peterborough came out all guns blazing and Mackail-Smith should have done better when he found space at the far post but couldn’t keep his cool and lashed a low effort wide of Grant’s goal.

The game opened up more and Johnson had a good effort of his own at the other end before posh levelled just after the hour mark.

It was Mackail-Smith who made no mistake this time, pwoering a header beyond Grant from the far post to level and give the hosts the momentum for the final 30 minutes.

And Posh were high on confidence, moving the ball about nicely for a period after their leveller, and forcing Wednesday into some desperate defending, led by new-boy Darren Purse.

Purse dived in front of a George Boyd effort, which looked destined for the back of the net, to deny the hosts as they poured forward in search of a winner.

But Wednesday more than held out, and ended the tough spells of pressure from the hosts’ forward line before creating some chances of their own to snatch the three points.

Winger Etienne Esajas was introduced to the attack, and he almost scored another screamer of an effort when his trickery took him to the edge of the Peterborough box before unleashing a powerful, inswinging effort that was destined for the top corner before Lewis pulled off a superb save.

But, on a warm and sunny day, both sides looked to have run out of gas as the game progressed to a conclusion, and both will have been relatively happy with a share of the spoils.

Full-Time: Peterborough 1-1 Wednesday