Peterborough United Reserves 2 Southend United Reserves 2
By Robert Craven
Stuart O'Keefe's stoppage-time set-piece gave Southend United's second string a deserved point in a rearranged fixture at Peterborough United's London Road stadium.
The Posh had looked set to gain a second victory over Blues' Twos inside a month after Jamie Day and Dominic Green goals within five first-half minutes had eradicated James Walker's opener, but midfielder O'Keefe stepped up to sublimely curl the ball around the defensive wall and inside goalkeeper Sam Coles' right-hand upright to equalise in the second minute of injury time.
O'Keefe captained a side that contained Walker and winger Damian Scannell as well as goalkeeper Ian Joyce and second-year scholar Kyle Asante, all of whom have first-team experience, against opponents who were looking to impress their new manager, Mark Cooper, watching intently from the stands.
It was Southend's Craig Calver who had the first chance to score in the third minute as O'Keefe and Ade Osifuwa combined from a free-kick to present him with the ball fifteen yards from goal. The youngster, who earned a development contract with his displays last season, was only able to scoop over the crossbar.
The more experienced Walker made no mistake in the sixth minute after receiving a simple pass from O'Keefe on the left-hand side of midfield. The one-time Charlton Athletic forward set off on a mazy dribble into the penalty area before dispatching a delightful curling shot into the top right-hand corner of the net.
Peterborough's first threatening move arrived within seconds as Green and Shaun Batt exchanged passes on the edge of the penalty area and Green's resultant searing shot skimmed the top of the bar.
There was to be more to come from the hosts, but not before Osifuwa's diving header from an O'Keefe free-kick had drifted wide and Scannell had slashed an effort across the face of goal in attempting to emulate Walker's earlier effort.
Josh Simpson fired a dipping shot wide for Posh in the 18th minute before the Coca-Cola Championship club increased the pressure on a young Blues back-line with Green hoisting a dead ball over from inside the 'D'.
Despite this, the Seasiders almost extended their lead when John Owinja's wicked right-wing cross was nodded into the path of the lively O'Keefe by Asante. The ex-Ipswich Town trainee's fierce shot was deflected wide, but that did not deter the 18-year-old and he swiftly delivered a pinpoint left-footed cross for Duran Reynolds to nod wide of the post.
Unfortunately, after 28 minutes, Peterborough levelled when Charlie Dove was upended on the edge of the penalty area. Full-back Jamie Day stood over the set-piece and nonchalantly curled the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
Four minutes later, Posh should have taken the lead when Ben Wright cushioned Cross' long goal-kick into the path of Green, who drilled straight into Joyce's gloves. The flanker swiftly made amends with his next opportunity as Batt controlled another raking ball forward for Green to shoot superbly into the bottom left-hand corner.
The second half was just as exciting as its predecessor, with Coles called upon within eight minutes of the restart to block as Asante raced onto Calver's through ball. The same pair combined just after the hour mark when Calver flicked the ball in behind the Posh defence, only for his strike partner to skew wide.
Peterborough were looking for a third goal during this period and Krystian Pearce was allowed a free header, which Joyce did well to parry out. Owinja then made a fine tackle to stop Green from getting another sight on goal before Simpson smashed into Joyce's gloves from 20 yards.
Jamie Dennis was introduced in place of Merrick James-Lewis and his galloping run ended with a beautiful cross that left Walker with an open goal to aim at, only for Pearce to launch himself desperately across the front man and deflect his shot over.
Batt blasted wildly off-target and Wright somehow contrived to side-foot wide of the left-hand post with only Joyce to beat after Ramone McCrae's centre had opened up the Southend defence, whilst the American gloveman made an excellent point-blank stop to push out Wright's 90th minute thunderbolt.
Blues kept their heads up, though, and they had served notice of their own intent when Walker's free-kick ten minutes before the end bounced down off of the underside of the crossbar, with the onrushing Harry Crawford and Callum Whittaker unable to convert the rebound. When the telling set-piece arrived in stoppage time, the tireless Scannell having been brought down, O'Keefe delivered and the fixture ended level at 2-2.
Southend: Ian Joyce; John Owinja, Callum Whittaker, Adetayo Osifuwa, Duran Reynolds; Damian Scannell, Stuart O'Keefe, Merrick James-Lewis (Jamie Dennis 57), James Walker (Marcus Milner 87); Kyle Asante (Harry Crawford 76), Craig Calver. Substitute not used: Daniel Bentley.
