A glorious glimpse of the Peterborough United future on a record breaking day in the Cambridgeshire Derby

Not only did Posh deliver a footballing lesson to their most bitter rivals in what will go down as one of the great London Road performances, they also offered a glimpse of the true potential of this team that few dared dream possible at the start of the season.

Posh will play far better teams than this negative Cambridge side that surely would have taken a 0-0 before kick-off but what they have done is assemble quite possibly the quickest squad in League One and one that is capable of giving any defender sleepless nights.

Darren Ferguson deserves enormous credit for making two tactical changes and getting them both spot on. Archie Collins and Joel Randall came in and both gave arguably their best performances in Posh colours. They both replaced players who had been performing well in Jadel Katongo and David Ajiboye, who was the star performer at Wigan, yet this game demanded something different. He also moved Kwame Poku out of the number ten role and onto the wing just a few games after hailing his best performance in the position (Blackpool away).

The whole forward line has improved their games markedly since last season already and have all added strings to their bows. After scoring nine and five respectively in the league last season, Mason-Clark and Poku lead the scoring charts this campaign with six each already. Poku has also weighed in with a league-high six assists. The powerful, dominant Mason-Clark of last season finally made his return on Saturday. Ricky-Jade Jones is flourishing as a striker and although he did not score, provided a brilliant assist for goal number two and was a nuisance all day; while Randall’s transformation from forgotten man to this season is obvious.

It has long been thought that if Posh could combine all of their good elements together and find a clinical edge then somebody could be on the end of a real hiding and how perfect that Cambridge was that team.

The challenge for this young side will be now how consistently close to this can they get for the rest of the season, anywhere near and they will be right in the thick of the promotion race. The scary thing is, the average age of this team in under 23, they will only get better!

OTHER TALKING POINTS FROM POSH 5 CAMBRIDGE 0

1. Mark Bonner said he wanted to bring his side to Posh yesterday to make history, well he certainly did that. Posh recorded their biggest even win over Cambridge and it was the first time the fixture has even been won by a margin of five goals. Posh’s previous best successes came by three goals on December 1, 1987 in the Sherpa Vans Trophy (3-0) with goals from Micky Nutttell, Noel Luke and an own goal, plus a 4-1 in Division 2 on March 31, 2001 with goals from Richard Forsyth, Franny Green, Dave Farrell and Jason Lee.
2. Three goalkeepers in League One are now joint on the most number of clean sheets this season (7). Some Posh fans may be surprised to learn that these three are Nicholas Bilokapic, Will Norris and Joe Wildsmith of Derby! Not bad numbers for a couple of maligned current and former Posh keepers. Quite incredibly on yesterday’s evidence, Cambridge lead the league on clean sheets (8) but have done so across two keepers, Jack Stevens (6) and Will Mannion (2).
3. There was not a single yellow card given out by referee Scott Oldham and there wasn’t exactly cause for any to be shown either. The gulf in class between the sides was obvious so is a little surprising that with Poku, Mason-Clark and Jones leaving Cambridge defenders for dead left, right and centre, that no one mistimed a challenge or threw themselves into one to try and get their team going. In truth, the way Posh completely demoralised their opponents and put to bed swiftly their brief moments of momentum is probably to thank for that. The
4. Lots of people like to talk about attendance figures and the fact Posh didn’t technically sell out, I’m not one of them. There were 11,645 fans compared to last year’s 12, 776, however, the allocation of Cambridge fans was slashed from 2,244 down to 1,612 this year meaning that in reality, there were just under 500 less Posh fans (10,033 compared to 10,522) in the ground than last time. A drop is never good but last year was the first league meeting between the sides in over 20 years and it was at 3pm, a time much more favourable for many, in particular parents and children involved in Saturday morning football. The fall is explainable and far from dramatic, let’s just focus on the football.
5. The fans in the ground were brilliant and helped to create a loud and memorable atmosphere, particularly those in the Deskgo. Prior to Saturday, I had no strong feelings about moving the home end to there but if it’s going to motivate Posh fans to bring that kind of energy on a regular basis, then I’m all for it. Allowing Posh to kick towards their own fans at half time was also very beneficial and provided a subtle edge in the game. Posh don’t have the luxury of a large stadium where they can banish visiting fans to the upper tiers or into the gods like at Stadium MK or St James’s Park but limiting them to just the main stand corner where possible may just be Posh’s worthwhile alternative.
6. Gaby Zakuani was the latest very worthy entrant into the Posh Hall of Fame prior to kick-off. These things should be about more than just numbers, although 202 appearances and two promotions stands him in pretty good stead anyway. Yet, what endeared Zakuani more to the Posh faithful was the old fashioned no-nonsense approach to the game. You got the impression that he was willing to die to get three points and even then, he wouldn’t let a little thing like death stop him turning out for Posh in the next match. His commitment on the pitch and championing of the club in his media work and online presence makes him a more than worthy entrant. To do in with the Cambridge fans in the stadium was a brilliant touch with his ongoing antagonising of them.