One huge talking and turning point for Peterborough United, keep calm and carry on, deadly Posh pairings, refreshing faith in young players and the August wish list

Anyone watching Plymouth Argyle outplay Peterborough United in Devon on Saturday wouldn’t have predicted the Tuesday results for the teams.

As the Pilgrims were getting thumped at Charlton, Posh became the first team to beat League One title favourites Sheffield Wednesday thanks to second-half goals from Jonson Clarke-Harris, who was honking at Home Park, and Jack Taylor who was substituted at half-time in the weekend game. Joe Ward was also hooked at the break in Plymouth and last night he was named man-of-the-match.

That’s the fickle nature of football at this level, especially at a time of the season when managers are still searching for their best starting line-ups and their favoured formations.

It’s why Posh boss Grant McCann is unfussed about Posh sitting second in the League One table after four matches. It means nothing, although beating a side as big and powerful, and so rich in history with a fantastic fanbase, can’t do any harm to a team’s confidence.

Other talking points from the win over Wednesday…

1) There’s usually a turning point in a match and this one had a huge and obvious game-changing incident in the 34th minute when Wednesday defender Reece James landed his studs in Joe Ward’s thigh. The red card was an easy decision for impressive referee James Oldham and was undoubtedly the decisive moment of the night. It had been an even game until that point with Wednesday’s power often penning Posh in their own half, but with a man advantage McCann’s men often ran physical, but not particularly mobile, opponents off their feet. It doesn’t always work out like that against 10 men – and one still shudders at the Posh failure to score in 50 minutes playing against 9 men of MK Dons in this manager’s previous spell in charge – but apart from the first 10 minutes of the second-half it was a tactical triumph as Ward exacted revenge for being assaulted by running riot down the right wing.

2) This felt like a big game. The atmosphere under the London Road lights was superb and two of the division’s heavyweights slugged it out for 90 competitive minutes. It could turn out to be a big result even though both teams will improve. Wednesday seem intent on powering their way out League One a la South Yorkshire neighbours Rotherham United as they fielded a huge starting line-up, but if they don’t find time on the pitch for midfield wizard Barry Bannon – a victim of heat exhaustion at the weekend apparently – they run the risk of being labelled as a better class Wycombe Wanderers, a team reliant on set-pieces rather than skilled football.

3) There’s been a lot of talk already this season about the strike partnership of Jonson Clarke-Harris and Jack Marriott, but Posh have other pairings that could cause endless problems for League One teams. Ward and Clarke-Harris for a start. They thrived together two seasons ago at this level and the big striker will bag a hatful of goals again if Ward keeps last night’s standard of delivery up. And Ward also gets on well with Nathan Thompson down the right. Thompson wasn’t at his best against Wednesday, but his forward drives from right-back help to create the room for Ward to cross

4) This column suggested a rest for Ronnie Edwards was in order after the Plymouth performance. Wrong, as he was back to his unruffled, classy best against one of the division’s top teams. It helped the Posh defence that the Wednesday team appears to have been built for high balls rather than an offensive press, but even so Edwards was cool, composed and passed the ball well throughout. It was putting his head on the ball in the first-half in his own penalty area in the probable knowledge he’d get a kick in the head that really caught the eye though. That sort of stuff is needed in League One.

5) Jack Taylor not getting into the penalty area enough has been a bugbear of this page for a while so it was great to see him score with an eight-yard header against Wednesday to open his scoring account for the season. Taylor has the ability to score double figure goals in a season at this level.

6) McCann’s faith in his younger players is refreshing. Posh were leading 2-0 against 10 men with only 10 minutes to go when Ricky-Jade Jones and Joe Taylor were sent on. It might have seemed a safe enough option, but the game still needed seeing out and experienced heads would have been the order of the day for many managers. Jones was even sent on to play as a sort of left wing-back in place of Harrison Burrows, but he adapted to an alien position well enough with one chase back to the edge of his own area, interception and then clearance attracting loud applause from the home fans.

7) Ben Thompson is already a fans’ favourite and he set up a goal with a fine piece of play against Wednesday. But he is not a natural fit for the role previously played by Sammie Szmodics. A new attacking signing should still be on the August wish list.