SWINDON Town lost 1-0 to Peterborough United in the League Two club’s final pre-season fixture of the summer on Saturday.

In a game where Town gave as good as they got against Posh’s second-string, the two sides were not separated until late on when a Peterborough trialist tapped home against the youthful Swindon defence.

Ben Garner now has just seven days before taking his squad up to Scunthorpe United for the opening League Two game of the season.

Before applause took place for Alan McLoughlin in the fourth minute, Town won an indirect free-kick inside the box which new signing Ben Gladwin dragged narrowly wide. Shortly after, Jojo Wollacott was forced into a comfortable save away to his left.

Gladwin – who often had all 2431 fans calling for him to shoot every time he was in range – tested Dai Cornell in the eighth minute after a long ball forward by the unknown trialist was chested down to Gladwin by Harry McKirdy. The midfielder didn’t catch it as sweet as he would have liked however, and Cornell gathered.

Town’s most recent signing, Tyreece Simpson, had a couple of first-half chances to begin his season-long loan on the right foot, but he was unable to properly carve out a clear chance as Posh defended admirably midway through the opening period.

The best chance of the first half fell to the visitors, however. Mathieu Baudry was found wanting by Ethan Hamilton on halfway before racing away one-on-one. By the time he got to the box though, his legs were starting to tire, and the shot was pretty comfortable for Wollacott to fend away with his legs.

The second half featured the usual deluge of substitutions – one of which was Simpson for a trialist – but before his departure, the 19-year-old was involved as Town went close to scoring. Some pinball ensued in the box as Simpson, Jack Payne, Rob Hunt, and Grant all tried their luck before the ball was deflected out for a corner.

Substitute Harry Parsons whipped an effort wide from distance midway through the second half as the chances remained few and far between.

With a little over 10 minutes remaining, Town went mightily close to opening the scoring following a lovely move down the right-hand side. A ball was played forward out of defence before trialist Mikael Ndjioli played Payne in first time down the right.

The energetic midfielder shifted onto his left before whipping his shot into the side netting at the near post.

Moments after Payne's near-goal, Peterborough opened the scoring in simple style. Charlie O'Connell slid a low cross towards a trialist, and the Posh striker simply tapped in unmarked from the centre of the goal.

There was to be no further chances for either side in a lacklustre final 10 minutes or so, but the efforts of the home side were fully appreciated by a receptive home crowd at the final whistle.

STFC starting XI: Wollacott, Iandolo, Conroy, Baudry, Gladwin, Simpson, Payne, Trialist (Grant), Trialist, Hunt, Trialist (McKirdy).

PUFC starting XI: Cornell, Edwards, Knight, Jones, Tomlinson, Hamilton, Darlington, Barker, Mensah, Fernandez, Bojang.