Klaidi Lolos could barely have picked a better time to score his first Wanderers’ goal as his dramatic late winner took the Whites into top 10, writes Pete Oliver.
There were 99 minutes on the clock when summer signing Lolos bundled the ball over the line after Dion Charles’ penalty had been saved in a thrilling finish at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.
The substitute’s goal raised the roof as Wanderers’ almost incessant pressure paid off with virtually the last touch of the game as Ian Evatt’s men belatedly got their full reward for one of their best performances of the season.
The Whites dominated almost from start to finish and found only inspired Posh goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic in their way before he was finally denied Peterborough’s first clean sheet of the season as Wanderers made it five wins in seven games with the chance to move into the top six if they can add another at Stevenage next Tuesday night.
With Kyle Dempsey added to the injury list and Wanderers’ reverting to a more attacking line-up, Evatt made four changes to his starting line-up against a Peterborough side which boasted the highest number of goals scored and the most conceded in the division.
Predictably then, it was an open contest with Wanderers again starting well and pressing for the first goal.
Aaron Collins, one of those to return to the forward line, was instrumental early on as Wanderers’ chief threat with efforts of his own and setting up a chance for Szabi Schön which required a vital block from Posh captain Archie Collins.
The Whites also forced a number of early corners and George Johnston should have scored from one of them but perhaps didn’t fully pick up the flight of the ball as he headed wide from an unmarked position.
Peterborough’s threat came largely on the break, although it was a mis-cued pass from Schon which gave the visitors their best opening of the first half-hour which Ricky-Jade Jones couldn’t convert as he shot wide.
Wanderers should then have made more of a counter-attack of their own with Whites shirts streaming forward but earning only a free-kick to show for their efforts.
And it continued to be a case of nearly but not quite as Wanderers pinned Posh back with constant waves of attacks which saw Eoin Toal – back as captain after two games out with concussion – force Bilokapic into a smart save as he joined the collective push.
It had been as one-sided a first half seen at the Toughsheet this season and was greeted by a warm hand from the home fans at half-time.
But Evatt’s men needed to make it count as they looked to bounce back from a first defeat in six league games at Birmingham in mid-week.
And as the momentum stayed with them after the break Wanderers had another chance to go in front 10 minutes into the second half.
Again, the lively Collins was the catalyst and from his deep cross Schön nodded the ball back across goal where Victor Adeboyejo headed over the top.
Wanderers and the fans were cranking it up again and when Schön and Josh Dacres-Cogley combined to set up John McAtee he tested Bilokapic with a low drive the Posh keeper blocked with his legs before going down with what looked like a tactical injury with half an hour to go.
Schön was another who had been a real handful and he was next to try his luck after cutting in off the left flank for an effort he struck at Bilokapic as Wanderers then made their first change with the introduction of top scorer Dion Charles.
And the striker almost made an instant impact, running onto McAtee’s pass and cutting in to let fire with a shot that brought the best save yet out of the busy Bilokapic.
Luke Southwood had been a virtual spectator at the other end but with just over a quarter of an hour to go made a superb reaction stop to keep out a deflection off Ricardo Almeida Santos as the Wanderers’ defender – firmly back to his best – stretched to intercept a cross.
Southwood then turned away a shot from Jack Sparkes as the visitors sensed the possibility of an unlikely winner but that was only a brief respite and at the other end Wanderers looked to have been denied an obvious penalty when Almeida Santos was dragged to the ground as the minutes ticked away.
It just wouldn’t go in for Wanderers as Collins was somehow denied a winner in the last minute of normal time as he met a Dacres-Cogley cross with a near-post effort which just hit Bilokapic.
And then deep into the added six minutes of injury time Charles couldn’t punish a mis-cue from Oscar Wallin as Peterborough looked as though they would somehow survive and Wanderers would be denied a victory that should have been theirs.
There was still time for the latest of late drama, though, as referee Ollie Yates extended the added time and Wanderers finally got their just desserts in incredible fashion as a penalty – given for a pull on Johnston by Ryan De Havilland – was saved by Bilokapic.
The Australian was having the day of his life as he then brilliantly kept out the follow-up from Charles.
But as Wanderers threw bodies at the loose ball, Lolos – back in League One action for the first time since the opening day of the season following injury – got the final touch to bundle the ball over the line with his chest and spark scenes of relief – and joy – on and off the pitch.
Wanderers: Southwood; Toal, Almeida Santos, Johnston; Sheehan; Dacres-Cogley, Matete, McAtee (Lolos 76), Schön (Williams 76); Adeboyejo (Charles 70), Collins. Substitutes: Hutchinson (GK), Forrester, Sharples-Ahmed, Arfield.
Booked: Adeboyejo, Lolos, Schön
Peterborough: Bilokapic; Dornelly (Curtis 63), Wallin, Fernandez, Sparkes; De Haviiland, Collins; Poku, Randall (O’Brien-Brady 90), Mothersille; Jones (Ihionvien 70). Substitutes: Steer (GK), Odoh, Nevett, Hayes.
Booked: Curtis, Ihionvien, Fernandez
Referee: Ollie Yates
Attendance: 20,002 (695 away)