A Wembley win to a relegation dogfight, Peterborough United have endured a year of two halves

​The joy of some of the most attractive football seen at London Road for decades was rewarded with an unforgettable Wembley triumph, but followed by the undeserved agony of play-off failure at the hands of a far less attractive team.

The delight at watching young players complete their transformation from ‘promising’ to ‘outstanding’ was followed by their understandable, inevitable, yet still frustrating, departure for bigger and better things with predictable consequences for those left behind.

Posh started 2024 with a brilliant New Year’s Day display at Derby County and stayed unbeaten in League One throughout January.

But December they managed to lose to Burton Albion and Northampton Town, two of the worst teams in the third tier, before suffering home humblings over Christmas to Mansfield and Barnsley.

Posh were third in League One on January 1, just four points off top spot. They are 17th in the same division on December 31, a whopping 25 points behind the leaders with the season not even halfway through.

Injuries to key man haven’t helped. Top players staying fit was a Posh boost in the first half of 2024, but the football Gods then decreed the squad must become injury ravaged.

Off the field the club opened an impressive megastore, but the proposed move to a new stadium remains as far away as ever.

HIGHLIGHTS

1) All rounds of the EFL Trophy are played in front of sparse crowds until the semi-final when the prospect of a Wembley appearance looms large. Apathy is replaced by eager anticipation and Posh responded with an outstanding last four win at Blackpool and then a 2-1 win in the final at the national stadium against Wycombe Wanderers.

The final was a poor game, and it wasn’t quite revenge for the farce of the ‘points per game season,’ but the occasion was magnificent and the match was won by two goals from ‘one of our own,’ Harrison Burrows. Perfect.

2) Burrows, who skippered his boyhood club at Wembley, went on to win the ‘League One player-of-the-year’ award and has continued to shine after his move to Championship promotion candidates Sheffield United. He’s been the Posh ‘Man of the Year’ by some distance.

3) That 3-2 win at Derby County in front of almost 30,000 at Pride Park was delivered by a mesmerising performance that had the Rams chasing shadows for 90 minutes.

It was the best display of wonderful season which featured a stirring and thoroughly deserved, late comeback.

For sheer entertainment the late season 3-3 draw with Bolton Wanderers at London Road took some beating.

4) Posh continued to dish out derby day wallopings at the Weston Homes Stadium.

Cobblers were thumped 5-1 in March and Posh took pity on them early in the second-half by taking off key players. Cambridge were despatched 6-1 in November as Kwame Poku, this season’s star man, hit the first hat-trick of his senior career.

5) It is possible to be delighted as well as disappointed when top players leave the club, especially those who have travelled through the club’s Academy.

Posh fans should be proud to see Burrows move to a leading Championship club and perform so well for them.

Supporters should also be proud to see young Ronnie Edwards make a Premier League appearance for Southampton and for Ephron Mason-Clark to start scoring Championship goals for Coventry City.

It’s not their fault Posh didn’t win promotion with them. Posh didn’t go up with a forward line of Ivan Toney, Sammie Szmodics and Siriki Dembele either or when Jack Taylor was patrolling midfield.

LOWLIGHTS

1) A team that delivered so much joy didn’t deserve their semi-final play-off defeat and certainly not in the manner it arrived.

Posh were the better side in both legs, but ultimately fell foul of an Oxford team who were allowed to get away with constant time-wasting and tactical fouling by a weak referee who had previous (bad) history at London Road.

It was heart-breaking stuff especially as this glorious side was certain to be broken up even if promotion had been achieved.

2) Chairman Darragh MacAnthony was keen to let everyone know he’d spent £2 million on new recruits in the summer to replace the ones that had been sold for many millions.

The biggest purchase was £500k on a left-back called Rio Adebisi who we didn’t see until December because of injury and who we now won’t see again until the summer. Incredibly Adebisi had played every single League Two game for Crewe Alexandra in the previous season.

It was the most extreme case of regular Posh injury issues of 2024 with star men Hector Kyprianou and Poku also sidelined this season.

3) As one fan told me recently, Posh have become ‘a team of two halves,’ with an exciting forward line constantly undermined by some horrific defending.

The Posh reputation for recruiting excellent young forwards remains intact, although the loss of Poku to injury has helped expose the shortcomings of others, but they picked up a centre-back and two full-backs in the summer who have been way inferior to those who represented the club last season.

On a similar theme the adage of ‘never falling in love with loan players,’ rang true for Posh fans and Peter Kioso. The right-back, who left the club early in January, was a perfect fit for the way Posh played last season and could easily have been a key to unlocking Oxford’s massed defence. He now plays for them in the Championship just to rub it in.

4) Losing to bottom of the league Burton Albion while registering one shot on target at home was a shocking performance. Somehow losing to a terrible Cobblers team at Sixfields next time out was deflating.

5) Selling Edwards and Burrows and not managing to sell Romoney Crichlow and David Ajiboye.