ALAN SWANN’s match comment: The lucky Peterborough United fans were the ones who couldn’t see the game, Dembele and Brown were badly missed, set-piece misery, Thompson class and other talking points from the defeat at Accrington Stanley

They were spared 90 minutes of frustration and disappointment as Posh went down 2-0 at Accrington Stanley in their opening League One fixture of the season yesterday (September 12).

The Peterborough Telegraph’s call for post-match fans’ comments provoked an angry reaction from those who did manage to see a picture and hear the sound (at the same time if they were lucky), but it’s surely daft to get too carried away after one poor performance?

Particularly as key players were missing as the coronavirus continued its haunting of Posh into a second season.

Unfathomable results and performances happen from time to time and often on the opening day of a season.

It’s worth noting that the none of the four teams who started the day as title favourites managed to win as Sunderland and Portsmouth drew at home to teams they would expect to beat and Oxford were thumped at Michael Appleton’s rebuilt Lincoln City side.

Other things we learnt from yesterday’s defeat.

1) Until Posh start scoring regularly (the supposedly first-choice team has drawn two blanks so far) Ivan Toney’s name will feature heavily in post-match comments.

Of course he’s a huge loss, but don’t underestimate the influence of Siriki Dembele when Posh hit peak form towards the end of last season.

Dembele was not present yesterday and boy did it show as Posh missed the regular injections of skill and pace he delivers. On a couple of occasions Sammie Szmodics played sliderule passes to Mo Eisa who was faced with one squared up defender to beat. Give Demeble that situation and he races past his man into the penalty area. Eisa doesn’t have that speed so, although he got a shot and a cross away, the threat was easily contained.

One suspects manager Darren Ferguson’s preferred front three when all are available will be Dembele, Jonson Clarke-Harris and Szmodics. There are plenty of goals there.

2) I feared for Clarke-Harris in the first-half yesterday as he was fed a diet of long, high balls when marked by a centre-back who was a good four inches taller.

But he came on strong in the second-half when the service improved and almost scored with a trademark free kick that smacked into the crossbar.

Clarke-Harris will improve when the better players he’s now playing with find their form. Posh will need to be patient though as he still looked a bit heavy-legged.

3) I’m beginning to have more sympathy for referees now I can hear the constant abuse aimed in their direction from players and off-field staff. Marc Edwards was okay yesterday, but when Nathan Thompson’s rampaging run was halted on the edge of the Accrington area by a desperate tackle from Ross Sykes I was expecting to see a red card rather than a yellow as the Posh player would have been through on goal. As the home side were only 1-0 up with 30 minutes to go, and Sykes is a strong player, it was a big moment.

4) Posh coach Mark Robson has a reputation for innovative set-pieces, but so far they’ve been no better than last season. Opponents hold the tallest Posh player Mark Beevers and no-one else has the presence to make an impact. Yesterday the delivery from Joe Ward in particular was woeful and that’s not the coach’s fault.

5) Reece Brown’s absence - he was the first player to pick up the coronavirus - didn’t help the Posh passing game. Jack Taylor probably delivered his worst Posh performance and although Ethan Hamilton played with plenty of energy alongside him he was also not accurate enough in possession. The sight of the ball being lumped forward as it was during the first half is a sure sign the Posh passing game wasn’t working.

6) It seems unlikely Posh paid decent money to make Ryan Broom a squad player. There can be no argument that Szmodics is the better number 10 at the moment, but maybe Ferguson has a different position in mind for the former Cheltenham player? He was an accomplished right wing-back in League Two so Ward’s ineffective display yesterday could lead to a change in that position next week. Broom was introduced from the bench after 17 year-old Flynn Clarke at Accrington which was a surprise. Both were sent on too late to make much of a difference.

7) Posh have played three competitive games against teams who have employed the same formation. This often leads to sides cancelling each other out as happened yesterday until Dion Charles’ brilliant volley on the stroke of half-time gave Accrington the all-important first goal. I fancied Ferguson would change formations earlier than he did in an attempt to break his players free, but as soon as he did, Accrington scored a second goal through a wing-back given all the time he needed to deliver the second cracking finish of the day.

8) Thompson was excellent yesterday. He carried the ball out of defence like he used to when playing for Mark Cooper’s classy Swindon team. Frankie Kent has that same skill so there are no excuses for the passing game to continue to be as ponderous as it was as Accrington.

Keep the faith!