ALAN SWANN’S view on Peterborough United’s defeat at Fleetwood Town: Blame Toney not Ferguson, don’t let Eisa join Tyrone Barnett’s club, a wrong midfield selection, but 18 points from 21 still gives Posh a decent fighter’s chance of promotion

The rest of the first-team squad had their chance to step out of a 25-goal striker’s shadow at Fleetwood yesterday (February 15) and they blew it, and not because Storm Dennis in its infancy made a game on the coast something of a lottery.

If Toney plays Posh probably convert their early penalty and we all know how scoring first has become vital for Darrem Ferguson’s team this season. If Toney plays Siriki Dembele, aside from winning the early penalty, and Sammie Szmodics most certainly wouldn’t have delivered their most ineffective displays of their few weeks together. If Toney plays passing becomes a lot easier for a midfield and two wing-backs who appeared at a loss as to how to break down a well organised and disciplined defence in strong winds which raced down an old-fashioned Highbury ground. Far easier to pick out a big man with a sure touch and aerial power than what replaced him.

The penalty aside Posh didn’t create a solitary goalscoring chance. Even Dan Butler’s cracking strike from 25 yards wasn’t really a chance.

Few were quibbling with Ferguson’s starting line-up before the match so don’t blame him. The biggest share of the blame for me lies on Toney’s shoulders for picking up two senseless cautions in successive matches wich ruled him out just when Posh were riding the crest of a wave with style and momentum.

I hope Ferguson was more critical of the best player in League One in private than he was in public and I hope Toney is more contrite than he sounded in his last interview with the club’s media team.

Toney is so good he will be playing in the Championship next season no matter what happens to Posh in the next 10 weeks. It would be great if he carried Posh with him though.

Other talking points from yesterday’s game...

I did comment out loud as he picked the ball up to take a penalty I was surprised someone so out of form and lacking in confidence as Mo Eisa was allowed to take Posh’s early penalty. Seeing his weak spot-kick easily saved was therefore unsurprising.

Better players than Eisa have missed penalties. Marcus Maddison last season and Michael Bostwick when Posh were falling apart under Graham Westley to name a couple who have seen them saved at Fleetwood in recent times.

The problem with Eisa is he contributes little else to the team but goals. He isn’t quick enough to get in behind defenders and he isn’t strong enough to compete physically with the sort of rugged centre-back most League One teams possess.

I do hope he doesn’t join Tyrone Barnett as million-pound Posh signings who flopped. He’s far from that yet as even if he doesn’t score again this season he will have netted 15 goals in his debut campaign at the club which is not a bad return, but Ferguson needs to find a way to get him firing again, and quick.

It’s always dangerous to make rash judgements based on substitute appearances, but Idris Kanu showed more aggression, pace and skill in 30 minutes than Eisa had managed in over an hour. Kanu gets on well with Dembele so there’s a chance they might become the next Toney-free strike pairing.

I was among the many who felt Josh Knight’s physicality and energy should be employed ahead of Reece Brown’s more subtle skills at Fleetwood from the start. After 20 minutes I realised I was wrong.

Fleetwood scoring first after 15 minutes hampered Knight and his teammates who went on to dominate possession. Fleetwood camped happily in their own half when in front and challenged Posh to pass the ball perfectly in awful conditions to break through.

That’s not Knight’s game. He is an athletic sort who can break up play and is quick enough to join in deadly counter attacks. This game needed someone who can pass the ball precisely and Brown has shown me in enough in recent games (although not in his last one v Southend) that he has vision, fast feet and accuracy in possession which balances a perceived lack of physical strength.

Szmodics and Dembele soon realised they were not going to receive the ball quickly or accurately enough yesterday and became visibly frustrated. Szmodics in particular kept dropping so deep he helped make himself impotent.

For one glorious minute in the second-half after Butler’s cracking equaliser Posh were top of League One. Half an hour later they were fourth, albeit just two points off top spot and three points above seventh. Posh could easily be sixth before they play again, at a fading Burton side on February 29), but as Ferguson said post-match yesterday they have a decent fighter’s chance of promotion in a most competitive division and one poor performance and result won’t change that.

Ferguson appeared a tad harsh to dismiss the relevance of the previous six matches, all won in cracking style. I suspect if Ferguson had been offered 18 points from seven mostly difficult-looking fixtures he’d have accepted without a moment’s hesitation.

The trick now is to react strongly so Ferguson needs a way to win at Burton without Toney. He has two weeks to come up with a plan. Maybe Sir Alex Ferguson could help? He was a famous face in the crowd yesterday.