A sad sign of the times at Peterborough United, but some impressive positional tweaks, boring Burton Albion and more points are required
It’s a sign of the sad times at Peterborough United that a point at home to League One’s smallest club was treated with as much relief as disappointment.
It is a big point in the context of the relegation battle and it inched both Posh and Burton Albion closer to safety, but there appears little danger of Luke Williams’ side taking any momentum, or even hope, into the close season.
Too many underperforming players will still be here next season. I’d hate to see Posh turn into Cobblers and be happy to celebrate 19th/20th place finishes in League One and I’d hate Posh to turn into Crewe Alexandra who have had an outstanding Academy for decades as they flitted between Leagues One and Two.
There was some comfort in seeing midfielder Matt Garbett back in full flow again and in Harry Leonard’s fine strike which levelled the game. There was also some much-needed physical commitment from lesser talented players, but there were also too many simple errors which, on another day, against better opponents, would have have seen Posh dead and buried before the half time interval.
Posh have just picked up one point from two home games against two of the weakest teams in the division. It’s now just one win in 12 League One games and, with three of their own games to play, Posh are still likely to rely on other teams to make sure they don’t drop into League Two for the first time in 20 years. It’s all so disappointing.
TALKING POINTS FROM POSH 1, BURTON 1…
1) There was criticism of Posh tactics/selections in their previous outing, so only fair to praise manager Williams for the little positional tweaks he made for the visit of Burton. Harry Leonard thrived playing just off a striker. He’s too good a player to leave isolated up top against the huge centre-backs found at this level and, given a bit more space and more touches of the ball, he showed what a good all-round player he is. I can see him scoring more goals by arriving at the perfect time at the edge of the area as he has a venomous shot. Praise too for David Kamara and Pemi Aderoju who shared Leonard’s normal position. Neither is technically gifted just yet, but they battled, scrapped and fought for everything.
2) Dropping Garbett deeper to play closer to Archie Collins was also a masterstroke. Garbett receives rough treatment playing with his back to goal, but running from deeper enabled him to carry the ball past dangers that he could see coming. The Kiwi was excellent on the ball, his set-pieces should have led to two headed goals for James Dornelly and he ran hard even though he was clearly struggling for fitness from three quarter-time onwards. There were no thoughts of the World Cup Finals in this display. Garbett has started 22 of the 43 League One games this season. If he’d played more I’m convinced Posh would hold no relegation fears right now. Maybe the million quid Posh are getting from Ephron Mason-Clark’s promotion with Coventry City will persuade Posh chiefs to keep Garbett rather than sell him.
3) I’m still not understanding the failure to deploy Peter Kioso as a right-back though. I get Dornelly might be the more disciplined defender, but I miss the attacking dash Kioso has been known to provide, especially as Kyrell Lisbie’s form has fallen off a cliff.
4) I found Burton’s approach to this game baffling. Posh have never been so fragile and vulnerable. Put the defenders under pressure and there’s a good chance they’ll create chances for you as they did in the first-half. But Burton constantly slowed the game down. They took an age to take every single throw in and goalkeeper Brad Collins moved like a geriatric whenever the ball went behind his goal. That he wasn’t cautioned until the 98th minute was a sad indictment of referee Steven Copeland’s approach. Like so many officials he acted far too late.
5) If Burton beat Exeter City at the Pirelli Stadium next Saturday they and Posh will be safe from the drop. If Exeter win, and on what I saw today, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they did, there will be panic in East and South London as well as at London Road. Unless Posh win at a Stockport County side shorn of centre-backs, and conceding goals to goalkeepers, next weekend. That would make Posh safe regardless of results elsewhere. County could pretty much sew up a play-off place with a Tuesday night win over Mansfield which might also help. Posh shouldn’t believe 52 points is safe even if no team has been relegated with 51 points for 26 years. The poor overall quality of this League One edition was always likely to mean teams going down with more points than usual.
6) Who is driving this desire to make the GH Display Stand the home end for Posh fans? Has there been a vote? I am genuinely interested. It might be down to the location of the press box, but I miss the roar of the London Road End when Posh are chasing goals. I’m not hearing anything similar from the other end. Is it an acoustics issue? The arrival of an (awful) new club crest was apparently fan-approved. I hope Posh are not about to make another off-field mistake.