A late glimpse of an exciting Peterborough United future, ranting managers, busy referees and a lovely little run is developing

But a 2-0 win over a team who fancy their chances of success this season was a solid response to a frustrating Carabao Cup exit, plus there was an exciting glimpse of the Posh future when Johnson Clarke-Harris eventually moves on.

Posh fans should be grateful for the effort, leadership and goals of their 29 year-old centre forward, but, a departure from yesterday’s game that caused eyebrows to raise in the press box, turned out to be rather eye-catching.

There were 20 minutes to go and Rovers were pressing hard to recover from their two-goal deficit. They were dominating territory and possession with Posh struggling to get up the pitch.

Off went Clarke-Harris, the one most suited to holding the ball up, and Ricky-Jade Jones, who rarely lasts 90 minutes, and on came Ryan De Havilland to play in an advanced midfield role and Zak Sturge to play as a left-sided forward, enabling Ephron Mason-Clark to take over as the central striker.

The change in tempo also altered the flow of the game. All of a sudden Posh could press high up the pitch against tired defenders who started look uneasy and made mistakes. Posh can’t press as a unit with Clarke-Harris as part of the line-up.

Mason-Clark was certainly happier when he moved forward. He doesn’t look comfortable in the ‘10’ role, but his strength and speed could yet make him the ideal replacement for Clarke-Harris.

August signing Jacob Wakeling also offers pace and energy up front and apparently Malik Mothersille, the other summer forward recruit, is even quicker.

There could be exciting times ahead.

OTHER TALKING POINTS FROM YESTERDAY…

1) What is it with ranting managers? Darren Ferguson’s post-Mansfield pop seemed so out of character, but at least he didn’t crucify an individual like Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton did with Luke Thomas yesterday. It’s a strange man management technique and it seemed completely over the top, and nasty as well as unnecessary. Mind you Ferguson’s tirade clearly didn’t do any harm. Maybe he should deliver one more regularly.

Barton blast

2) The way referees are acting this season it’s no surprise Posh have collected two suspensions before the end of September. Posh managed to pick up five cautions yesterday and a couple of them were very soft, including one for Hector Kyprianou who will now miss the Tuesday trip to Carlisle, poor lad. Players really need to adapt. Kyprianou’s caution against Rovers was for a foul 20 yards outside the Rovers penalty area. It was daft. Archie Collins picked up his fourth caution of the League One season yesterday so one more and he will miss a game. It looks like summer signing from Barnet Ryan De Havilland will get his chance to shine in midfield now and his 25-minute cameo yesterday was very encouraging.

3) Attack really is the best form of defence for Posh. Not many teams would throw players forward with abandon in the final stages of a match in which they led 2-0, but Posh did yesterday. Kyprianou is becoming very skilled at timing dangerous runs into the opposition penalty area to get on the end of crosses. He really should have scored twice.

4) The 100th Posh appearance for Ronnie Edwards was much like most of the previous 99. He was calm and assured on the ball and pretty robust defensively, apart from attacking a couple of headers he had no chance of winning. Edwards will be missed more than Clarke-Harris when (if) they leave in January, although teenage loanee Jadel Katongo showed enough on his Football League debut, out of position at right-back, to suggest he could be the short term replacement. As a Manchester City player Katongo will have no problem passing out from the back, but he might, initially at least, find some of the more physical forwards at this level an awkward proposition.

5) Posh are now six games unbeaten in all competitions which comes as a bit of a surprise with all the flak that seems to be aimed at the club during and after matches, and not just from the manager. It’s a decent little run (four unbeaten in the league) which has lifted Posh into fifth in what continues to look like a bang average division. Can Posh do it on a cold Tuesday night in Carlisle though? We will find out soon enough.