ALAN SWANN’s talking points from Peterborough United v Sunderland: ‘feeling sorry for match officials, don’t look at the League One table, fouling Dembele, Reed’s renaissance, wing-back issues’

That was the biggest of several talking points from a fascinating clash between two likely League One promotion contenders.

1) I had started to feel sorry for Posh match officials this season. There has been no crowd to drown out the non-stop abuse they receive from players and management staff. The pressure they are put under by foul-mouthed, one-eyed, win-at-all-costs professionals has been eye-opening.

I once sat next to a now unemployed manager high in the stand during a game and his instruction to those in the technical area was 10% tactical and 90% reminders to ‘keep at the referee’.

Referees at League One level don’t have the safety net of colleagues watching a TV screen as the action unfolds. If they did Oldham would have spared some of the more excessive criticism yesterday as his award of a penalty when Sunderland’s Denver Hume collided with Posh midfielder Jack Taylor 10 minutes from time would surely have been overturned.

I’ve seen bigger howlers, but Oldham was perfectly positioned to see that Hume was as much the culprit as Taylor for both players ending up on the floor. To make such a big call in such a big early-season game when there should have been too much doubt was frustrating and disappointing. A 0-0 draw at the League One title favourites would have been a decent follow-up to beating Fleetwood.

2) Posh boss Darren Ferguson doesn’t look at league tables until 10 games have been played which is sensible. Posh are currently 19th, but have two more points than they did after three games last season and I wouldn’t be too concerned at a six point gap to two of the biggest clubs in the division, Ipswich and Hull, who have played only soft fixtures so far.

Sunderland’s start has been more impressive as they’ve now beaten Oxford and Posh, two teams who will be top six contenders for sure, but on the evidence of yesterday I wouldn’t be getting over-excited at the Stadium of Light just yet.

Manager Phil Parkinson knows how to succeed at League One level and he’ll base his promotion push around defensive organisation (he might also like a goalkeeper who catches the ball on a more frequent basis than Lee Burge). Sunderland have conceded just a penalty in three League One matches this season.

Sunderland’s quality from excellent positions out wide was poor and their gifted midfield players will need to keep scoring regularly as their strikers probably won’t, unless 35 year-old Danny Graham comes good.

3) Posh have far more attacking dash in their squad and, when Jonson Clarke-Harris starts scoring, goals will not be a problem for Darren Ferguson’s side again. Two goalless away games (one against an Accrington side thumped 4-1 at home yesterday) is an irritation though.

Posh were electric going forward for the opening 20 minutes at the Stadium of Light when Siriki Dembele looked unplayable. Dembele and Szmodics dropped off Clarke-Harris and all three combined to great effect with the latter missing a sitter in the fourth minute which would have had a huge impact on the match as Posh will be deadly when in front thanks to Dembele’s pace and skill.

Sunderland did a decent job of shackling Dembele in the second-half with fouling him a favoured tactic, especially with a lenient referee. I’d place a decent wager on Dembele becoming the most fouled player in League One this season.

3) Yesterday’s front three is certain to be the favoured attacking line-up this season. Mo Eisa’s lack of physicality and pace will count against him. Eisa wasn’t even sent on to try and rescue the game yesterday, while teenager Ricky-Jade Jones was given the last 10 minutes.

The removal of Szmodics (incidentally Darragh MacAnthony now says his latest signing is not the highest paid player at the club) with Posh chasing a goal was a surprise though. He popped up with a 95th-minute winning goal the week before despite not playing that well.

Posh kept three centre-backs on the pitch after falling behind 10 minutes from time which seemed unnecessary.

4) Three centre-backs and two wing-backs have greeted Posh in every competitive game so far. It’s a factor in Posh being unable to find attacking width. Left-wing back Dan Butler delivered one good early cross in the first-half and Ryan Broom managed a couple of dangerous centres after using his pace to get beyond his opposite number on the other flank, but Sunderland’s two wing-backs were found in good attacking positions more regularly with one of them winning the decisive penalty.

Broom has good form in League Two in a wing-back position. His ability to go past defenders onto either foot and score excellent goals should make him more dangerous than Joe Ward who doesn’t use his natural speed to run past opponents often enough.

Broom and Ward could both be exploited defensively though.

5) Louis Reed’s renaissance has been impressive enough to get him off the transfer list (presumably he has taken a paycut) and to take advantage of Reece Brown’s brush with coronavirus. Brown arrived on a season-long loan from Huddersfield to rekindle a successful partnership with Jack Taylor in the centre of the Posh midfield, but is now being kept out of the side by a player who didn’t appear once from the middle of January to the end of last season.

Reed was good again yesterday, almost scoring twice (one free kick thudded against the crossbar), and if he can maintain his current passing accuracy Brown faces a fight to get back into the side.

6) The Posh back three were terrific defending crosses and set-pieces, while goalkeeper Christy Pym was reliable when called upon. It’s a strange thing to say about the biggest club in the division and the current League One title favourites, but Posh will face much more potent forward line-ups than this one.

The three centre-back system is working well enough. In Frankie Kent and Nathan Thompson Posh have two defenders comfortable when advancing with the ball at their feet, although both would probably prefer to play on the right.

They did get in a costly muddle in the moments before the only goal yesterday when Pym chose to pass short to Kent inside the Posh penalty area. The defender was immediately put under pressure and kicked the ball square off the pitch.

The penalty came directly from that throw-in. Pym’s failure to hoof the ball clear and Kent’s panicky pass were not scrutinised because of the controversial nature of the penalty award.