More garbage and ill-discipline like this and Peterborough United will still face a nervy end to the League One season

Six teams will have to pass Posh for Darren Ferguson’s team to return to League Two and a couple only have five games to go. Posh have a decent goal difference advantage over most of those below them. Another couple of points, and almost definitely one more win, from six games would probably ensure survival.

Sky Bet weren’t even listing Posh as a relegation candidate on Saturday night. They were listing the teams they rate at 50/1 to go down. It appears no-one believes Posh can fail to survive.

They are probably right, unless they serve up the sort of garbage that enabled Northampton Town to deliver a 4-0 mauling at the Weston Homes Stadium yesterday. Posh wouldn’t pick up another point from a pretty tricky fixture schedule playing like that.

There’s a chance the gap to the bottom four could be down to six points by the end of next weekend, with the Posh goal difference having taken a battering, when four teams could also have sailed past Posh who it’s safe to assume won’t stop Birmingham City clinching promotion at London Road on Tuesday. ‘The Blues’ could even rest a few with a Wembley meeting against Posh to follow at the weekend in mind and still expect to win.

TALKING POINTS FROM POSH 0, COBBLERS 4…

1) Tayo Edun has been a terrific signing, but we might now have discovered why he couldn’t get a game for Charlton Athletic. His temperament can’t be trusted. Edun was restrained by teammates at the end of the midweek win at Crawley when something, or someone, clearly irritated him and he killed Posh yesterday with an act of gross stupidity. Posh were struggling against opponents who might have been more than 1-0 ahead when Edun decided to attack Cameron McGeehan, but teams who press with the intensity Cobblers’ showed yesterday don’t tend to keep it up for more than half a game. It’s reasonable to assume Posh would have found more space in which to operate as the game wore on and they might have caused problems for a back four that instead cruised through 90 minutes. Edun is a very gifted attacker for a start so his departure was felt at both ends of the pitch.

2) It’s back to square one for Posh defensively and that should frighten anyone who remembers the first half of this campaign. Left-back Edun will miss four of the six remaining League One games and centre-back Sam Hughes will probably miss the next two. Oscar Wallin looked lost without Hughes alongside him, while Jadel Katongo managed to get Manny Fernandez back into contention for Wembley, and maybe even Tuesday night, even though he actually saved two certain goals. More immediately the superior defensive work of Carl Johnston should ensure he plays at right-back ahead of James Dornelly on Tuesday, while it’s worth remembering how good Harley Mills was when Edun was last suspended when a strong Charlton side were despatched at London Road. It’s now 10 goals conceded by Posh in three matches, six of them while Hughes was playing.

3) Don’t blame the tactics for yesterday. Charlton also pressed Posh aggressively in the last League One game at London Road, but they were breached regularly and could easily have conceded six. Mills and Hughes played in that game, but so did midfielder Mo Susoho. Hector Kyprianou didn’t play and maybe he should be left out again as he looked slow and cumbersome against Cobblers, and was rushed into errors as a result. Susoho wasn’t great when he came on, but he is more naturally athletic. Kyprianou was one of three of the bigger Posh players to be hauled off at half-time. Tuesday’s team selection will be fascinating. It’s not beyond Ferguson to leave out his senior players, even against the best team in the division, as a punishment for such woeful, neglectful performances, although not playing Kwame Poku would still be an act of self-harm.

4) It’s not ideal for Posh to be relying on players who will be leaving the club in the summer, although the attitude of Ricky-Jade Jones couldn’t be faulted against Cobblers. Poku and Kyprianou were both dreadful though and we must hope it was the result of poor form, or even the distraction of Wembley, rather than summer planning that caused such a drop in standard. I’m sure Poku and Kyprianou realise the debt they owe Posh for plucking them from relative obscurity and will want to finish their careers here on a high.

5) It was a surprise to me to see Malik Mothersille sacrificed for a defender when Edun was dismissed. Surely keeping pace in the side was the best chance of 10 men getting up the pitch and stretching the defence of a team who arrived at Posh in pretty poor form? Mothersille is very fit as well as quick so he could have been expected to keep running at least. He would probably have been a better bet than Abraham Odoh who was pretty much a spectator for 90 minutes.

6) We are accustomed to records tumbling in this fixture, but this time it was all bad news for Posh. Manager Darren Ferguson’s perfect home record in derbies against Cobblers and Cambridge was shattered, while it was a first Football League win at London Road for Cobblers for 19 years and they completed a first Football League double over Posh 38 years. Grim reading in isolation, but the harm it could cause for the immediate future, given the likelihood of two heavy beatings in the next week, is also of concern.