Matchday Memories: On This Day 2010 – Stead Secures Sky Blue Success Over Posh

On this day (6th March) in 2010 a first half goal from Jon Stead  gave The Sky Blues all the points at Peterborough United as City ran out 1-0 winners. It also gave the Sky Blues ‘the double’ having squeezed past the Posh 3-2 at the Ricoh in mid December downed by a hat-trick from (now CCFPA member) Freddy Eastwood.

The win (their third on the trot) moved Chris Coleman‘s Sky Blues closer to the Championship play-off places as the Posh slipped a step closer to their eventual relegation.

A Sky Blue loanee from Ipswich Town, Jon looked second favourite when he broke through in the 24th minute of the first half but shrugged off Peterborough defender Craig Morgan and stabbed the ball past their ‘keeper Joe Lewis. Sky Blues defence needed to be alert as the Posh’s Tommy Rowe saw a powerful drive blocked as the hosts pushed for an equaliser and both Charlie Lee and Lee Frecklington shot over. The massive support of 2,790 Sky Blues fans in the 10,469 crowd at London Road saw their side hold on to clinch the points.

The Sky Blues win lifted them up to eighth spot, only three points off the play-off places (very similar to their current situation). The defeat left Posh thirteen points away from safety with only a dozen games left finding their brief flirtation with second-tier football not just a severe challenge but a failed enterprise (as acknowledged after the game by their ‘gaffer’ Jim Gannon.

The graphic below provides the main match details:-

We are delighted to report that, apart from the loanee scorer, Martin Crainie, Sammy Clingan, Michael McIndoe and (of the subs) Jermaine Grandison and Freddie Sears the remaining thirteen players in this matchday squad later joined CCFPA.

The Sky Blues earlier play-off pretensions deserted them as they failed to register a victory in their last eleven games of the Championship season (six lost) and slid down and down to finish nineteenth (albeit seven points away from trouble). The relegated teams that season were Sheffield Wednesday (22nd), Plymouth Argyle (23rd) and bottom seven points behind them, today’s opponents, Peterborough United.