Peterborough United continue to make fools of the pre-Christmas pundits, a Messi-like dribbler, no-one to fear, Posh forwards are unstoppable, but defenders hold the key to promotion

‘They can’t beat any of the top sides,’ they were saying in December. Five of them have now been despatched in the last nine matches, all of them as convincingly as Portsmouth were seen off at the Weston Homes Stadium yesterday (Marrch 7) when a 2-0 final scoreline flattered only the visitors who were indebted to a fine performance from 21 year-old goalkeeper Alex Bass to keep the score down.

Add in manager Darren Ferguson’s apparent devotion to the midfield diamond, a goalkeeper far too small to be part of a promotion campaign and an over-reliance on Ivan Toney for goals and you have a full complement of reasons why Posh weren’t going up.

Sure, Toney is still scoring goals - he grabbed his 26th in all competitions with another athletic finish yesterday - and he’s now challenging the likes of Dwight Gayle, Craig Mackail-Smith and Jim Hall for the ‘best striker in Posh history’ crown, but goal threats are emerging all over the squad through Siriki Dembele, Sammie Szmodics, Jack Taylor and even left wing-back Dan Butler who has now grabbed two goals in his last three matches.

Goalkeeper Christy Pym has grown in stature if not in actual inches, while Ferguson’s switch to a 3-4-1-2 formation after finding players suitable for the system has helped transform the season.

Yesterday’s win was a real promotion statement. Portsmouth are limited ability-wise, but they are robust, organised and efficient. They came to Posh in decent form, but they were simply run ragged by Toney and Dembele whose double act is way superior to anything else to be found in League One forward lines.

These are exciting times, but Posh cannot afford to get carried away. A draw between Portsmouth and Fleetwood (very possible) and a positive result for Sunderland at Bristol Rovers (very likely) on Tuesday and Posh will drop out of the play-offs again.

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Understandably Toney gets most of the accolades when Posh do well. His worth to the side was magnified in his absence on the two previous Saturdays and he is enjoying a stellar season which will lead to a big-money move in the summer regardless of whether or not Posh win promotion.

But could Siriki Dembele leave with him? The dribbling wizard has so much natural ability he just has to be attracting the attention of bigger clubs. Some of his close control skills in crowded areas had to be seen to be believed yesterday. It’s no exaggeration to say they were Messi-like. And he executes at such a rapid pace it makes him hard to stop, legally anyway.

Dembele’s assist for the first goal yesterday was mesmerising and when Posh get in front they are usually lethal, not least because of Dembele’s speed and the all-round excellence of Toney. Pompey tried to rough the Posh forwards up, but it did not work.

They must be the best strike partnership in League One by a country mile.

Posh boss Darren Ferguson quite rightly suggested after this win that clean sheets remain the key to winning promotion because few teams will be able to stop his players scoring.

And pleasingly Posh look rock solid defensively, especially at home with four clean sheets in the last five matches. Captain Mark Beevers delivered his best display of the season yesterday. He was peerless in the air and read danger quickly enough to snuff it out on the deck.

And even in-form Nathan Thompson’s half-time departure didn’t affect Posh as replacement Niall Mason was excellent.

Frankie Kent is a shoo-in to return to the starting line-up when fit, but Frazer Blake-Tracy continued his very decent first season in the Football League with a strong display against Pompey.

Five of Posh’s nine remaining League One games are at home, all against teams in the bottom half of the table. Bristol Rovers. Blackpool, Shrewsbury, MK Dons and Tranmere provide the opposition and Posh really should beat all of them. If they do draws in the tough games to come at Coventry and Sunderland could easily be enough to see Posh promoted automatically.

If Posh do end up in the play-offs they should fear no-one. Pompey lacked flair (and discipline) yesterday which is also a problem for Sunderland and Fleetwood. Oxford are the best footballing side other than leaders Coventry and would give Posh the most trouble in my opinion. Posh did beat them 4-0 recently, but caught them at a good time.