Peterborough United's play-off nightmare at Hillsborough could turn out to be a good thing

Posh lost their League One play-off semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday last season in spectacular fashion, going down 5-1 at Hillsborough after winning the first leg at London Road 4-0. Wednesday went on to claim victory in a penalty shoot out.

But that defeat promoted an immediate change of tack on the playing side with several proven promotion winners leaving the club to be replaced by younger unexposed types as Posh went in search of a young, dynamic and speedy side.

And the results and performances so far this season have been eye-catching and entertaining as Posh sit second in League One at the halfway point having scored more goals than any other team. They have lost just one of their last 17 League One matches.

Speaking on the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast MacAnthony said: "Don’t get me wrong I wanted promotion last season, but the thing that happened at Sheffield Wednesday might turn out to be the best thing that happened to our club.

"I knew exactly what I wanted to do 10 minutes after the game. Ask the manager. I spoke to him about it as he drove home.

“That’s when the mapping out for the future started. It was the perfect opportunity to do what I know needed doing.

"I’d have loved to have won promotion. I’d take a promotion every day of the week.

"But If we had gone up last season we would have had senior players on improved contracts and we would never have been able to shift them, so maybe it was God’s way of slowing us down, of saying we weren’t ready.

"He gave us the thrill of the play-off place and the brilliant first-leg, but it was a case of taking one step at a time. If we had gone up I would have dealt with it all no problem, but maybe it’s worked out for the best for us anyway.

"We are ahead of where we expected to be at this point, although we knew we wouldn’t be eighth or ninth because we of the talent we had in the building.

"We are playing so well and it’s been a joy to watch. There will be disappointments along the way. There will be the odd smack on the nose.

"Some fans were up in arms because we didn’t beat Reading on Boxing Day, but we still played well with 20 shots, 16 corners and some decisions that went against us.

"Manchester City don’t win every Premier League game and we won’t win every League One game, but we still fancy we will come on strong in February/March time with our pace going up against some tired legs.

“You don’t win promotions at this time of the year even though there was a lot of excitement around us when we moved into second place.

“I took my family to the game on Boxing Day and we went to Starbucks beforehand as we were early. Fans were stopping me outside saying how much they are enjoying the football and that means a lot to me.”