The Deadline Day movements of George Moncur raised a few eyebrows in the Football League. After 17 goals in 69 appearances for Colchester, Moncur chose to make a move to Barnsley in the summer, despite interest from a host of other League One and Championship clubs.
From there it looked like his next few years were set in stone until on Deadline Day word came about that the player had been made available for loan. Rumour has it he was on his way down the M1 to Milton Keynes before a couple of phonecalls saw his car re-directed to London Road. He joined up with the Peterborough Squad and other new arrivals Luke Mcgee and Nathan Oduwa from Spurs.
After an uninspiring debut off the bench against Swindon, Moncur ‘earned’ his first league start at the expense of front man Paul Taylor.
Some would say that fielding the one ‘official’ striker at home to Port Vale in the form of Tom Nichols was a strange move from Grant McCann but if you look at the likes of Marcus Maddison, Giwion Edwards and even Chris Forester this side can score goals from all over the park, and Moncur’s brace in the Port Vale game proved just that.
However in typical Peterborough United fashion the good work going forward is accompanied by defensive lapses. Inside six minutes a simple knockdown header in the box meant Posh were chasing the game, at home, to Port Vale. It was up to Moncur to create himself some space, after an unselfish pass from Marcus Maddison, and his shot across goal found the bottom corner to level things up a few minutes later. His second in the 84th minute wasn’t too dissimilar a free ball, space creation and a shot across the keeper into the net.
From there at home you’d expect Posh to push on and maybe grab another (no not shut up the shop), but the London Road faithful can always sense the inevitable.
In the closing minutes Andrew Hughes threw himself to the ground to stop a shot, which coincidentally came from another laid back ball in the box, conceded a penalty for handball and got himself sent off. The resulting spot kick was clinical from Vale to beat debutant keeper Mcgee whose welcome to London Road could have been so much different.
It looks like there could be a League One side capable of promotion in their somewhere; the goals and attacking movement do enough to show that. However, McCann, who has always been involved in attacking Peterborough United sides, really needs to iron out defensive errors, even if that means dipping into the loan market again.
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