Thursday, September 19, 2024

Ihionvien scores on Posh debut after transfer ‘tornado’

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Peterborough United signing Bradley Ihioniven said the last few days had been “crazy” after he made a goalscoring debut for the club.

The 20-year-old was on target on Tuesday as Posh won 2-1 at Gillingham in the EFL Trophy – the same ground where he scored his first goal for former club Colchester.

Ihionvien had no clue about a possible move until the deal was pushed through on Friday evening – transfer deadline day.

“Just imagine two tornados coming together and being one tornado – that’s the way it was really,” he told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

“Friday, I was thinking, ‘How am I going to make an impact (for Colchester) off the bench on Saturday against Accrington?’ and the next thing I know I’m in a taxi and I’m in Peterborough.

“It’s been crazy. I did well in the pre-season game (against Peterborough) but I didn’t think anything was going to come from that.”

Ihionvien made 32 league appearances for Colchester – but only seven of them were starts.

However, Peterborough’s reputation for taking young strikers with potential and developing them – like England’s Ivan Toney, who last week joined Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli from Brentford for around £40m – persuaded Ihionvien that it was the right move at this stage of his career.

He will compete with the likes of Ricky-Jade Jones and Malik Mothersille for a place in attack and, even though he is not yet sure of the names of all his team-mates, boss Darren Ferguson already likes what he has seen.

“He will improve with us but (in the) pre-season (game) he was very good and we thought ‘OK’,” said Ferguson.

“What I liked about him was when I showed him how we play with a nine [centre forward], he did exactly that. He’s strong, he’s quick and has given himself a chance of playing against Lincoln (on 14 September).”

Peterborough reached the League One play-offs in the last two seasons and have taken six points from their first four games of the new campaign.

“All I can do is score in the games I play and work hard in training. At the end of the day, we all have one dream, to get promoted, so let’s do it,” Ihionvien added.

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