Meet the man with a brief to improve Peterborough United's set-pieces - last season's stats were damning

Last season Posh scored 64 League One goals with 13 coming from set-pieces. Only five teams had a lower success rate according to WhoScored.com. Champions Lincoln City scored 30 times from set pieces as did Plymouth Argyle and even Northampton Town, the worst team in the division, managed 20 goals from set-plays.

It’s something first-team boss Luke Williams was keen to address and he’s acted swiftly this summer. Connell Rawlinson, who played for Williams at Notts County, has been added to the Posh coaching team and part of his brief is to improve set-piece statistics, alongside goalkeeping coach Richard Taylor who, to be fair, did generate an improvement in the second half of last season.

Defending set pieces also appears to be in urgent need of improvement. Posh conceded 18 set-play goals in League One last season. Only five teams conceded more.

Rawlinson has arrived armed with plenty of ideas even though this is his first Football League coaching post. Rawlinson coached Chester at National League North level last season and was promoted to interim manager late on which prompted a surge into the play-offs for his team.

“This job came out of the blue,” Rawlinson said in an interview on the Posh Plus service. “I had a catch up with Luke over the phone and I couldn’t wait to link up with him and Ryan Harley again. We had success together at County and it always helps the bonding when you do well.

"I know how Luke and Ryan operate and I know the standards they expect. It’s a coaching role for me, but I will be involved in the set plays, defensively and when attacking. I have a lot of ideas and you do need a full playbook. The days when you crossed the ball and hoped for the best are long gone. Look how teams like Arsenal have invested in this part of the game.

"I want to see consistency, but also variety and the ability to cover all bases. If we are delivering to the front post we must also make sure we cover the back post in case anything goes wrong. Dummy runs, blocks and good timings are required to free players up.

"The boss was a fan of the quickly taken corner at County and so was I. Not every time, but teams often switch off when they concede a corner as they think they are getting a rest when the ball goes out of play. I want the man nearest to the ball to have his head up, but there is also a time and place to set things up more slowly.

"Set pieces were an issue for us at Chester, but we did well in the end. If we can chip in with over 10 goals a season it helps massively.

“When we are defending set pieces there is an art and detail needed to marking, closing distances and so on.

"Even throw ins are an important part of the game these days. You can run little routines to switch play to come out of pressure or to go in behind first time depending on who you are playing against. The idea is to control the ball and game. Giving away possession cheaply is a real no-no with this manager.

"We will work on it all in pre-season obviously. It’s the first time in 17 years that I've turned up for pre-season not riddled with anxiety about all the running I was going to have to do!”

Rawlinson (34) played close to 250 senior games. Chester picked up 24 from 30 possible points when he became interim boss last season to reach the play-offs where they were beaten by Macclesfield. He helped County win promotion from the National League under Williams in the 2022-23 season.

“The plan had always been to go into coaching when I stopped playing so I’m delighted to be here,” Rawlinson added.

The 64 Posh goals scored in League One last season came from open play (39), counter attacks (7), set pieces (13), penalties (4) and own goals (1) according to Whoscored.com. The 68 goals Posh conceded came from open play (42), counter attacks (6), set pieces (18), penalties (1) and own goals (1)