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Exeter City’s second-half comeback against Peterborough United was “too little, too late” as they were ultimately unable to recover from a two-goal deficit handed to their opponents. Posh was 2-0 up at half time, and could have been further ahead, before Rekeem Harper off the bench grabbed a second second in the second half.

Jack Sparkes hit the post and Pierce Sweeney had a goal disallowed as the Greeks dominated the second period against the promotion chasers. But Jonson Clarke-Harris with a 24 ^he The goal of the season put the game past City late on to make it 3-1, with all three goals avoidable.

As they did on Good Friday against Bolton Wanderers, City were poor in the first half and gave away goals that should have been defended much better: Alex Hartridge sliced ​​a clearance into his own net for the first and Ephron Mason-Clark allowed a run down behind and throws to Jamal Blackman for second. While the performance after the break was encouraging, the game was already over, and manager Gary Caldwell admitted as much after the second straight loss.

Read more – Peterborough United 3 Exeter City 1 – Greeks defeated by promotion hunters

“The first half wasn’t good enough,” he said. “Too many defensive actions were bad and we weren’t aggressive enough in the way we pressed. It’s a good team, it’s going for promotion, it’s somewhat dangerous in attack and it’s the best striker in the league, but we have to be much better at those times and get into the game.

“We give them the goals and too many opportunities. We weren’t ready to compete and we didn’t do enough. We conceded a really poor goal for the first goal and after that always chasing the game and for all our work the second half we were fantastic we can’t give good teams a two goal start as you always struggle to get back to the goal. game. It was a fantastic reaction in the second half, we should have been level but we have to improve and be better as we are giving away games to teams at the moment.

“We have to be better and be ready. Football is a battle and you have to be prepared to fight for every ball and we think that sometimes the game will be easy for us and today it wasn’t. In the second half we were chasing the game, so we had to open the game up, and we can’t play like this for 90 minutes because the good teams will get you.

“Even though we were fine, we had nothing to lose, and it was a bit too late. We have shown that we can be a good team, but we have to defend better and we could have scored more goals in that period and almost set them free with just one”.

Caldwell made two changes from the Exeter City side, who saw a mini unbeaten run end on Friday when they were beaten by Bolton Wanderers. Jake Caprice replaced Sparkes at left-back for the first time as a starter in nearly two months, while teenage striker Sonny Cox made his first league start, replacing James Scott.

Peterborough started faster and in the eighth minute took the lead. City had already had a lucky break when Hartridge had cut through a gap earlier for a corner. The next time though they weren’t so lucky. Kwame Poku floated in a cross from the right, the defender booted wildly at him and only managed to slice him into the bottom corner of the net, giving Blackman no chance.

Posh had plenty of chances before just before half time they finally made it 2-0. Oliver Norburn had time and space within his own half to pick a pass. He tossed it long, Mason-Clark overcame the offside trap and ducked behind Sweeney, took a bunt and past Blackman to double the lead.

Harper replaced Harry Kite at half-time and was an instant impact, the loan from Ipswich Town scoring his first goal for the Greeks, and first since September 2020, within a minute of his arrival. Cox found Sam Nombe and although his shot was blocked, he passed straight to Harper, who caught him on the volley. The shot had power, but it went right through Will Norris, who really should have avoided.

Suddenly City were creating all the chances. Josh Key’s cross was met by Sparkes, but his header hit the post. Sweeney then converted home an Archie Collins free-kick, but a combination of the offside flag and a foul in the build-up disallowed it. And the missed chances were costly when Sweeney’s attempt to clear a cross was deflected and while Blackman held out the header, Clarke-Harris had the easier chance to tap in from two yards to make it 3-1 and end the game as a contest. .

Peterborough moved up to fifth in the table with the win. The city went down to 12 ^he and the slimmest hope of a play-off ended with what was a sixth straight away game without a win.

“All three goals were due to defensive misconduct,” Caldwell added. “We had a lucky break before the first and we have to clear the ball without cutting it. The second goal gave us the ball and the third we didn’t stop and defended a center for which we should be in position. We have given them three goals when we had to win our goal today and there is a lot of work to do before a great game on Saturday.

That big game is the Devon Derby at home to Plymouth Argyle, with the Pilgrims knocked out of top spot after their loss. St James Park will be full, and Caldwell wants to repay the fans for supporting him this season, but has demanded a better performance.

“If we play like we did in the first half, I have no doubt what the result will be,” he warned. “The players have to be better. It’s a great game, we’ll have great support, but we have to do a lot more.”

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