Happy New Year Peterborough United 4 1 Walsall

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The Posh battle to overcome struggling Walsall as a Mackail-Smith double earns a flattering 3 points at London Road.Peterborough head coach Gary Johnson, who already finds himself under pre sure, made just the one change from the stalemate away at Swindon last time out with Arron Davies coming in for the injured George Boyd, who picked up an ankle injury on Sunday, taking his place on the left flank of the Posh attack. Lee Tomlin, who won the Poshs player of the month for December, looked to continue his fine run of form by partnering the ever present Craig Mackail-Smith up front following Aaron McLeans departure to Championship outfit Hull City.After welcoming 2011 in an unsatisfactory manner, Walsalls disappointing 3-0 home defeat to Notts County on New Years Day resulted in just two changes being made by Walsall bo s Chris Hutchings. Ryan McGivern and William Grigg dropped to the bench as Paul Marshall and Reuben Reid came in for them Miro Heiskanen Kids Jersey . Reuben Reid needed no introduction to the Posh faithful of course following his highly unsucce sful and somewhat lazy loan spell last year in the championship.Peterborough have adopted a very unfortunate habit so far this season by failing to turn up in the early stages of matches and have often fallen behind early on. Walsall, despite propping up the League 1 table, started the match the brighter of the two teams as the midland side retained po se sion very well knocking the ball around nicely and not allowing their hosts a sniff of po se sion. By far the more dangerous of the two sides, Walsall should have taken the lead on 7 minutes when Paul Marshall played a neat defence-splitting pa s into the path of Alex Nicholls but his tame effort was thwarted by the onrushing Joe Lewis in the Peterborough goal.Walsalls impre sive, if somewhat surprising, start to the match was rewarded when former Posh loanee Reid found some space on the Walsall right and fired a neat cro s placed perfectly in the path of ALEX NICHOLLS who simply guided the ball past Joe Lewis from 6 yards. Again, the Posh defence was nonexistent as  Esa Lindell Men Jersey the Saddlers took a well deserved 11th minute lead.Alex Nicholls gave the visitors a deserved leadGary Johnsons men were too wasteful in po se sion, constantly searching for the ball over the top into the channels for Mackail-Smith or Lee Tomlin to run onto. This was easy for the visiting defence to deal with. However, Mackail-Smith tested the handling of Jon Brain on the quarter hour mark, but the former Macclesfield keeper was equal to the former Dagenham strikers effort.Moments later, Posh captain Grant McCann went on an uncharacteristic run but after beating two defenders, he scuffed his effort with his weaker foot forcing the visiting keeper into a routine save. In response a few minutes later, some neat one touch football again by the visitors involving Westlake and Nicholls resulted in Reid firing over from just 6 yards. It was a let off for the hosts as Reid should have doubled the Saddlers lead.On the half hour mark, Brain was forced into a fine save as the Posh came more into the game. From a corner the ball fell to Adam Clayton, who was the only home player looking to play football on the floor,fired in a low drive from the edge of the area but Brain was able to parry it away. The pre sure ended after Tomlin was cautioned for diving under a challenge from a defender in red, although it did look like Poshs number 24 was tripped.Ten minutes before the break and the Posh were back on level terms after some hard work from CRAIG MACKAIL-SMITH resulted in him holding off the attentions of Lancashire before volleying home with a splendid finish beyond the grasp of Brain.Mackail-Smith grabbed the equalier for The PoshDespite drawing level, the half time whistle was greeted with a chorus of boos as the Posh faithful were underwhelmed, not for the first time this season, with the lack of game plan shown by Gary Johnson and his men.The second half began and it was the home side that took the initiative with Gabby Zakuani coming close from an Arron Davies set piece, and Mackail-Smith firing into the side netting from a tight angle under pre sure from Brain and Andy Butler.The hosts were the dominating team and, on 55 minutes, Lee Tomlin, who was becoming more and more creative and influential as the game wore on, riffled a shot just inches over the visitors cro s Neal Broten Women Jersey  bar. The Saddlers defence were having a torrid time defending against the pace and work rate of Mackail-Smith. At the other end, Paul Marshall brought out an outstanding save from Joe Lewis who pushed away the midfield mans low drive with his feet.On the hour mark, the game was becoming increasingly open as chances were frequent for both teams. Alex Nicholls glanced a header just wide of Lewis goal after beating Zakuani in the air effortle sly moments before Walsalls shot stopper produced a phenomenal save to  Tyler Seguin Men Jersey tip Chris Whelpdales low curling effort wide of the post.On 70 minutes however, the pre sure was too much for the Walsall defence and the hosts got their noses in front. A tremendous cro s from the skipper Grant McCann flew towards the top corner of Brains goal and MACKAIL-SMITH was on hand to rise above the two surrounding defenders and nod the ball into the back of the net to give the Posh the lead. This was the 16th goal of the season in all competitions for the striker who is unsurprisingly receiving lots of interest from the Championship.Number 16of the season for Mackail-SmithThe lead was almost doubled 3 minutes later as Tomlin went scampering down the right wing to fire a teasing cro s acro s goal, but Davies was inches away from poking the ball home with the former Yeovil man losing his boot in the proce s. Mendez-Laing and James Wesolowski were thrown into action as Arron Davies and Chris Whelpdale were withdrawn.Andy Butler came inches away from getting his team an equaliser as the Posh defence continued to struggle with high ball into the box. The Posh made it 3-1 on 82 minutes as MENDEZ-LAING got in behind the Walsall defence despite looking offside before rounding the keeper to slot the ball into the back of the net.Mendez-Laing rounded the keeper to score his first goal in Posh coloursOn 88 minutes, RYAN BENNETT completed the scoring with a powerful volley following a Grant McCann set piece as the substitute put the game beyond doubt. There was still time however for Joe Lewis to justify his man of the match performance with a world cla s save to deny Jon Mackens top corner curling shot by tipping it over the  Jon Casey Men Jersey cro sbar and away from danger. His reflexes again demonstrating why he was once part of Fabio Capellos England setup.Ryan Bennett secured 3 points for The PoshA somewhat unsatisfactory performance with a total lack of game plan, defensive organization or attacking intent means that a 4-1 victory is a very flattering one indeed. With the departure of Aaron Mclean and the injury to George Boyd, the task of starting 2011 in a winning fashion was made that little bit harder. However, with not many players putting in a decent enough performance, the team was saved by certain individual performances of the likes of Lewis, Mackail-Smith and Adam Clayton. I cant help but think that, had we not been so lucky on the pitch, Gary Johnson may not have been so lucky off the pitch after this dismal performance or if we had lost the game. On the contrary, one place off the play offs with a game in hand is progre s as the Posh now look forward to a busy schedule over the January and February period.Posh: Lewis, Little, Langmead, Zakuani, McCann, Mackail-Smith, Rowe, Whelpdale (sub Mendez-Laing 71min), Davies (sub Wesolowski 79min), Tomlin (sub Bennett 84min), Clayton. Unused subs: Collis, J. Davies, Mills.Walsall: Brain, Westlake, Lescott, Lancashire, Jones (sub Paterson 84min), Richards, Nicholls, Gray, Reid (sub Macken 76min), Butler. Unused subs: Bevan, McDonald, Smith, Grigg, McGivern.Attendance: 5,517 (142 Walsall fans)