REPORT – telegraph.co.uk<\/p>\n
Swansea earned a place in the Carling Cup fourth round after a hat-trick from Scott Sinclair accounted for Peterborough 3-1 at London Road.<\/p>\n
Sinclair, a constant thorn in the side of the Peterborough defence all evening, tested former England Under-21 international goalkeeper Joe Lewis after just two minutes.<\/p>\n
The Swansea winger cut inside and unleashed a 20-yard shot that Lewis punched clear.<\/p>\n
But three minutes later the visitors were ahead when Sinclair danced through the Peterborough defence before his shot was deflected into the net via Lewis and defender Gabriel Zakuani.<\/p>\n
The lead lasted just 60 seconds though as Peterborough unlocked the Swansea defence with ease.<\/p>\n
Charlie Lee sped into the penalty area before crossing for the unmarked Craig Mackail-Smith to drill home the equaliser.<\/p>\n
The home side were unlucky to go in front two minutes later when George Boyd's pass found Aaron McLean in space on the edge of the six-yard box but Yves Makabu-Makalambay saved superbly.<\/p>\n
In the 37th minute, Sinclair brought another fine save from Lewis with a curling shot before he latched on to a pass from David Cotterill to put the visitors back in front four minutes later.<\/p>\n
Peterborough felt they were unlucky not to have two penalties but referee Nigel Miller rejected their appeals.<\/p>\n
The official was at the centre of much controversy throughout the second half by failing to award clear free-kicks to both sides.<\/p>\n
Swansea should have put the game beyond Posh's reach on the hour but Stephen Dobbie missed from six yards – a misdemeanour repeated by Sinclair in the 75th minute.<\/p>\n
Sandwiched in between those misses were two close efforts from Peterborough. First Boyd sent a shot just wide of the right-hand upright and then, in the 73rd minute, substitute Lee Tomlin brought a fine save from Makabu-Makalambay – only for referee Miller to award a goal-kick.<\/p>\n
But Peterborough's miserable night was completed inside two minutes. In the 76th minute, Tomlin supplied a superb cross for Mackail-Smith, but the Posh striker somehow contrived to fire over the bar from two yards out.<\/p>\n
The miss was punished almost immediately when Dobbie's backheel put Sinclair through on goal and the winger picked his spot from six yards to make it 3-1.<\/p>\n
Sinclair's third goal killed off Peterborough's resistance and although they huffed and puffed until the final whistle, they only came close once to reducing the arrears but Mackail-Smith was again denied by Makabu-Makalambay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
REPORT – telegraph.co.uk Swansea earned a place in the Carling Cup fourth round after a hat-trick from Scott Sinclair accounted for Peterborough 3-1 at London Road. Sinclair, a constant thorn in the side of the Peterborough defence all evening, tested former England Under-21 international goalkeeper Joe Lewis after just two minutes. The Swansea winger cut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":453,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n