It was always going to be tough to follow the Peterborough United class of 2023-24 especially without their attacking back four

That team had an abundance of class and rarely failed to entertain, even when losing, but a player downgrade was inevitable once promotion from League One didn’t arrive, which is more of a comment on the excellence of those who have left as it is on the current standard of those who have come in.

It’s hardly fair to expect Oscar Wallin to play like Ronnie Edwards on his debut, in English football as well as for Posh, and you’d be crackers to believe Jack Sparkes and Chris Conn-Clarke could offer the quality and threat of Harrison Burrows and Ephron Mason-Clark on the left hand side when they only met for the first time a fortnight ago. Emmanuel Fernandez is a work in progress whereas Josh Knight had become a finished article by League One standards.

Of course a 2-0 home defeat to Huddersfield Town, recently of the Championship, was a disappointment, especially the tame response after adversity struck, but it’s one game against a team who look set to challenge for promotion. It was a Posh team with an average age of under 23, many of whom were having their first taste of League One football, who were playing against a team with one starter under 24 and many who were playing regularly in the second tier, albeit badly, last season.

It’s not a time to panic. It’s a time to show patience and give manager Darren Ferguson and his team the time to improve their players, as he did with Burrows and co.

OTHER TALKING POINTS FROM POSH 0, HUDDERSFIELD 2….

1) Losing an entire back four was always going to be a problem, particularly for this Posh team whose attacks last season often started with the ball at goalkeeper Jed Steer’s feet. The ability of Burrows and Edwards to extract themselves from the most unpromising of positions never ceased to amaze so their departures have damaged the creative ability as well as the defensive strength of the side. Wallin showed enough to believe he will be a player – he might need to move to right centre-back first - but Fernandez was less composed and rattled enough to try longer balls which were often way off the mark.

2) Incidentally after the first six games of last season, did anyone believe Burrows would become League One Player-of-the-Season? Best not to rush to judgement.

3) First day results are often a bonanza for the bookies. They would have cleaned up yesterday as moneybags Birmingham City needed a late penalty to grab a point at home against troubled Reading and Rotherham’s revamped squad lost at Exeter City. The Posh defeat was far more predictable given the strength of the opposition and the aforementioned changes to the Posh squad and yet if one of two decent chances at 0-0 had been taken by Ricky-Jade Jones or Chris Conn-Clarke we might well have witnessed a different outcome. Huddersfield deserved to win this game, but they needed a hefty deflection to get in front and take control. Often games are determined by small margins and they can soon switch in a side's favour.

4) The Posh cause yesterday wasn’t helped by the proven League One players failure to show up. Kwame Poku was poor, Archie Collins worked hard, but was constantly under pressure and Joel Randall certainly didn’t play like a man with the freedom you’d expect from someone with the security of a new three year deal.

5) The influence of new captain Hector Kyprianou on this Posh side should never be underestimated. He missed four League One games last season and Posh lost three of them and drew the other. It will be interesting how Ferguson accommodates Manchester City loanee Mahamadou Susoho as the 19 year-old showed enough in the first-half yesterday to confirm he’s ready to play in League One. Susoho is deep-lying central midfielder, the position usually occupied by Kyprianou and Archie Collins, two undoubted stars of last season.