Peterborough United’s fortress, Pym’s Ederson-like quality, Ward’s positive approach, the next big-money sale, great partnerships, making points-per-game work for Posh and Ivan who?

It’s up there with ‘taking each game as it comes’ and ‘the referee cost us the game’ as the most hackneyed football phrases.

But winning at home and not losing away has always bee a surefire route to success and Peterborough United have at least mastered the first part.

Posh have played nine League One matches at the Weston Homes Stadium in 2020 and won eight of them. They’ve drawn the other one, lost none and carry a positive goal difference of plus 20 from that run having conceded just three goals.

It’s the best run of home form since 1984 and although the club record 15-match winning streak of the all-conquering 1960-61 side is probably safe for now, it’s still a mightily impressive record and one that, if it continues, will keep Fergie’s men in the hunt for that elusive promotion back to the Championship.

Posh have shown great resilience at London Road this season having scored twice in injury time to beat Fleetwood before chiselling out wins against Swindon Town and now Oxford United, but, as manager Darren Ferguson pointed out after yesterday’s win (October 17) they need to stop relying on Christy Pym’s excellence in goal before stamping their authority on matches.

That and other things to take from yesterday’s win...

1) Posh would have been 3-0 down at home to Swindon at half-time, but for Pym’s goalkeeping. He also made two outstanding saves to thwart Matty Taylor and Daniel Agyei while the Oxford match was goalless yesterday.

A good goalkeeper is vital to the chances of success and Posh clearly have one.

And that wasn’t being said after half a dozen games of last season so credit Pym and goalkeeping coach Mark Tyler for the transformation in form and stature. Pym’s kicking is also outstanding. One ping to Nathan Thompson down the right wing yesterday was Ederson-like in its quality and as good as anything pass masters Jack Taylor and Reece Brown delivered from midfield, and I include the former’s pass for Joe Ward’s goal in that.

2) Thirteen different players scored for Posh in the whole of last season. First goals for Ward and Siriki Dembele against Oxford means 13 different Posh players have already scored in the opening nine competitive matches of the 2020-21 season.

Coping with Ivan Toney’s departure was one huge question mark hanging over this talented squad this season and sharing the goals around is a wonderful way to compensate. Opponents are having to guess wildly as to where the next attack will come from. Full-backs Nathan Thompson and Dan Butler both had chances to score yesterday, while having pacy forwards like Dembele, Ward and Sammie Szmodics running off a big and strong centre-forward must be a quite scary proposition for defenders.

3) Ferguson was quick to namecheck big money summer signing Jonson Clarke-Harris after the game yesterday. The striker sent two early half-chances wide of a post in the opening five minutes and didn’t have another attempt at goal worth mentioning in the entire game. But Ferguson sees more than goals in Clarke-Harris. “Jonson was excellent again,” Ferguson said. “He gets us up the pitch. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t score 30 goals for us because he is so important to the way we want to play. He will get goals though.”

4) Ward’s defensive work as a wing-back improved as last season went on, but how much better does he look deployed as an attacking threat in the current formation? Ward is quick, direct, has a powerful shot and can finish as yesterday’s superb lobbed goal proved. Ward has struck up a great partnership with right-back Nathan Thompson. They were a constant threat at Cobblers in the previous Posh match and they were even better against superior opposition yesterday. Ward has always looked much better when playing positively and his new role forces him to do just that.

5) The one concern with a four-man defence is captain Mark Beevers’ lack of natural speed. He’s also the least comfortable of the Posh defenders with the ball at his feet by some distance. It will be interesting to see how Posh cope if a team ever dares to play two up top or they find attacking players with the pace of Dembele and Ward. Beevers’ best form last season came when he played in the middle of a back three. The forthcoming away games at Wigan and Hull will be a interesting test.

6) Centre-back Frankie Kent was outstanding yesterday. He could challenge Dembele to become the next big Posh sale.

7) Don’t dismiss yesterday’s win because Oxford are bottom of League One. They are a good side who will surge up the table once they stop missing scoring chances. Yesterday’s win should be seen as important as it was against a likely promotion rival.

8) Ferguson stressed the need for Posh to get into the top two as quickly as possible. There must be a chance the season will be curtailed again given the panicky inconsistency of the UK Government. Posh need to make points-per-game work for them this season.