Cozens was captain when Posh won the Fourth Division in the 1973-74 season and it’s still the last title won by the club.
The striker top scored for that formidable outfit with 19 goals and, although injuries then restricted his Posh career, it still caused a stir when he was allowed to join Third Division Cambridge for a paltry £2,000 in 1977.
Cozens scored 54 goals in 155 appearances for Posh after joining Noel Cantwell’s club revolution in 1972.
He couldn’t match those numbers in his three years at Cambridge, but the move still worked out well for him as the ‘U’s’ pipped Posh to promotion to the Second Division in Cozens’ first season.
‘Big’ Ron Atkinson signed Cozens for Cambridge, although he’d left for West Bromwich Albion before promotion was secured.
"Of course it was a wrench to leave Posh,” Cozens, who still lives in the city, said. “But I just wanted to play football and I wasn’t doing that at Posh. I wasn’t getting on with Noel’s assistant John Barnwell at the time and when Cambridge came in for me I thought ‘why not?’
"I didn’t really worry about joining a local rival and I don’t recall getting any stick from Posh fans after making the move. They were always pretty good to me, but I came into the Football League quite late and I just wanted to play as much as I could.
"Ron Atkinson was the Cambridge manager at the time, but I knew John Docherty his assistant very well so I knew I would enjoy it there.
"I didn’t score that many goals for them, but we won promotion in my first season there so it was a good time for me and the club.”
Cozens was reluctant to make a score prediction for Saturday’s derby between Posh and Cambridge.
"Posh should win,” Cozens added. “But both teams have been a bit hit and miss and you never know in a derby.”
Cozens scored for Posh against Cambridge in a 1-1 Fourth Division draw in 1972.
He played for Cambridge against Posh in a huge Division Three promotion battle at the Abbey Stadium in 1978 which the home side won 1-0.
Cozens enjoyed it at Cambridge United so much he spent a couple of years as the club’s assistant manager.
He was one of several big names who played for both clubs, a list that includes Chris Turner, Robbie Cooke, Jim Hall, Micah Hyde, Steve Welsh and Kop killer Garry Kimble who will forever be part of Posh folklore for scoring the goal that knocked Liverpool out of the Rumbelows Cup in 1991.
Here are some of the players you perhaps didn’t realise turned out for Posh and the U’s….
1. ALAN KIMBLE
The twin brother of Garry Kimble who also played for Posh and Cambridge. This left-back only played 3 times on loan for Posh at the back end of a career that included 299 league appearances for Cambridge. Photo: David Lowndes
2. TREVOR BENJAMIN
A pacy and powerful boy wonder forward at Cambridge who earned a £1.5 million move to Leicester City in 2000 where he flopped. He wasn't great at Posh either after joining them in 2005 as his power remained, but his pace had gone. He could kick a ball miles including once famously from the penalty spot when the ball was believed to have finally landed in the London Road KFC. Scored 11 goals in 58 Posh appearances (26 starts). Photo: David Lowndes
3. JON SHEFFIELD
The £150k Posh spent to bring Sheffield from Cambridge in 1995 was the most they'd ever laid out on a goalkeeper. He was player-of-the-season in his first season at London Road, but he faded quickly and moved to Plymouth after 81 matches for Posh. He'd played 60 times for Cambridge. Photo: David Lowndes
4. BILLY MANUEL
Midfielder 'Battling Billy' made 34 Posh appearances in the mid-1990s straight after playing 10 times for Cambridge. Photo: David Lowndes