Peterborough United's Wembley pointers after important win, a League One giant, pretty passing patterns and how Posh will line-up in the Trophy Final

Winning on Easter Monday after a disastrous defeat on Good Friday disaster was vital. Playing well was also important and they managed that, even if the 2-1 League One win at Orient didn’t represent the domination Posh displayed.

Put Posh on a decent sized pitch with a flat playing surface and they will cause every League One team problems, and Wembley of course offers both. This is a team set up to exploit space with pace, movement and passing precision.

It will be a disappointment if they can’t beat Wycombe, but it’s far from a certainty and not just because of recent results against ‘The Chairboys’.

Posh boss Darren Ferguson was quick to suck out a lot of the joy of three points in East London by criticising the decision-making of his team in the final third, as well as some of the finishing.

Fergie moans

And it’s doubtful a Wycombe side with vast experience and nous will allow Posh to have so many clear runs at their back four next weekend. For all their dominance Posh relied on a shocking goalkeeping error and a set-piece for their goals.

Wycombe will also have noted a Posh vulnerability when defending corners. The two late chances for an undeserved Orient equaliser arrived from set-pieces, including a six-yard free header which missed the target.

The Chairboys pride themselves on set-piece prowess so the current 23-point gap between them and Posh in the League One table offers no guarantees in a one-off game.

OTHER TALKING POINTS FROM ORIENT 1, POSH 2…

1) Darren Ferguson’s post-match press conference was surprisingly downbeat. A fine win against awkward opponents probably didn’t dilute the disappointment of the Carlisle game three days earlier. A seven-point gap to second, even if Derby County lose at leaders Portsmouth on Tuesday, is still probably too much with just six games to play, especially as a strong Bolton Wanderers side are also still standing in the way of a return to the Championship. Fergie’s exaggerated moan about his team’s play in the final third was justified, but so would have been praise for his players’ ability to bounce back from the worst performance of the season to gain an important win (five of the top seven sides were in Monday action and all won). I suspect kidology was in play. Fergie is keeping feet on the ground and ensuring complacency doesn't rear its ugly head again.

2) Apparently a small number of players were in Dubai relaxing during the international break, but were back in the country nine days before the Carlisle game. If so blaming a bad defeat on a brief holiday seems absurd.

3) The absence of Hector Kyprianou from the Carlisle game was more problematical. His performance on an old stomping ground yesterday proved how badly he had been missed in the two previous matches, both of which were lost. Kyprianou is a midfield giant in League One. His passing and vision are from a higher level, but he’s also of considerable use when defending long balls and set-pieces. As soon as Orient sent on a big forward unit for the second-half Kyprianou was stationed between left-back Harrison Burrows and centre-back Ronnie Edwards to compete in the air. He’s usually successful. Add in a second goal in two games against his former club and it amounted to a great performance.

4) The view of the action from the press box at Leyton Orient is excellent. And yesterday it offered a first-class sight of how intricately and imaginatively the Posh passing patterns have been designed. The movement of Harrison Burrows in particular is fascinating. He moves inside to free up the pass to Ephron Mason and keeps driving forward in order to get a pass from his winger. Ronnie Edwards starts most of the moves by beating a press on his own and Hector Kyprianou is usually in support as well. It all looks telepathic and is obviously well rehearsed. There’s some outstanding coaching going on at the club helped by some technically gifted and very bright players. To think some of us thought Burrows at left-back might be a weakness this season!

5) More than once yesterday Jadel Katongo was spotted having healthy debates with teammates after a loss of possession. The Manchester City loanee was reunited with David Ajiboye on the right-hand side at Orient and it’s not a partnership made in heaven like Peter Kioso and Kwame Poku. Individually they are fine and Ajobiye played very well in the first-half after a sluggish start, assisting in a big way on the second goal just minutes after a poor Ricky-Jade Jones finish robbed him of an outright assist. But passes between the pair go astray because they are on different wavelengths. Poku was moved inside to the number 10 role at Orient, but I suspect he will be back on the right wing at Wembley and Joel Randall will be restored to the starting line-up.

6) It was a very enjoyable post-match press conference from Orient manager Richie Wellens.

Wellens’ words

Accurate as well. Ronnie Edwards IS a ‘Rolls Royce,’ this IS ‘a weak League One’ amd Posh don’t overdo the celebrations (unless they win in front of 30,000 at Derby).