TALKING POINTS: A fantastic February and huge gains for League One’s most in-form team, Szmodics is on fire at home, penny has droped with Dembele, better sides will punish the slow starts, Tuesday’s big games

Since the start of the month they have made relatively huge gains on their promotion rivals by winning four matches in a row. The latest a 3-0 home success over AFC Wimbledon yesterday (February 20).

Posh have gained four points on leaders Lincoln, seven points on Hull (3rd), eight points on Doncaster (4th), nine points on Portsmouth (5th), five points on Sunderland (6th), three points on Accrington (7th), five points on Oxford (8th) and eight points on Charlton (9th).

Such a rapid turnaround is a consequence of so many games being played in such a short space of time (and winning them), but the schedule is not becoming any less hectic any time soon so roles could easily be reversed.

It’s vital Posh ride the momentum wave for as long as possible to provide a buffer for when results inevitably do tail off.

Pleasingly there is a six point gap between Posh and Doncaster in fourth and Posh have blasted past third-placed Hull City despite having played two fewer games. Doncaster have a game in hand, but they have played 15 of their 27 League One matches at home.

A word of caution for Posh though. They were blitzing through February last season, but failed to win either of the two games at the end of the month, results that ultimately cost them a play-off place.

OTHER TALKING POINTS...

1) It was a surprise to see Posh boss Darren Ferguson start yesterday’s game with three centre-backs and two wingbacks given how thrillingly they turned their previous game around with a flat back four. Ferguson’s reasoning was understandable. Posh have racked up many home wins playing with three at the back and at least the manager made the formation switch while the sides were still level this time. The outcomes (it’s now 6-0 over two games once changing shape) means Ferguson will get plenty of credit for altering the flow of matches, but if Posh continue to start slugglishly when faced with better opposition they might not find it so easy to recover. It’s Plymouth on Tuesday and they’ve played three at the back all season so it will be interesting to see what formation is employed by Ferguson at kick off.

2) Sammie Szmodics could easily have had four goals, rather than two, in the second-half yesterday. He is very difficult to mark when playing off Jonson Clarke-Harris. The timing of his runs into the Wimbledon penalty area was excellent and his second goal was taken with the confidence of a man in form. Szmodics has seven goals in his last nine League One games, but surprisingly has yet to score a goal this season away from London Road.

3) The penny appears to have dropped with Siriki Dembele. His decision-making has been outstanding in the last game-and-a- half. He is breezing past defenders with his head up and picking accurate passes out. He’s been very unselfish as he showed with the pass for the first goal yesterday and the long pass which almost delivered a hat-trick for Szmodics was a beauty.

4) Congratulations to Clarke-Harris for the first 20-goal season of his career (all competitions). He has his limitations, but he is enjoying an outstanding season.

5) The Posh pitch looked better yesterday, but played worse, certainly in the first-half. It’s drying out making the surface more uneven hence the heavy watering that took place at half-time.

Ferguson said: “The pitch has gone. We won’t get it back this season. We didn’t get enough water on it before the game which is something we will have to keep an eye on for the rest of the season. As it dries out as the weather improves it will get more uneven and we don’t want that.”

6) How Ferguson must have wished a third goal had arrived earlier than the 90th minute yesterday. He made three substitutions to see out nine minutes of added time (Dons’ sub Shayon Johnson picked up an ankle injury, but medical bulletins were positive last night), but the more rest he gets into the legs of the likes of Clarke-Harris and Nathan Thompson the better.

7) The results again went well generally for Posh yesterday, but you’d expect Charlton, Lincoln and Sunderland to all win on Tuesday. Posh have a trickier game than most.

Tuesday’s League One games include: Blackpool v Doncaster, Charlton v Burton, Crewe v Accrington, Hull v Ipswich, Lincoln v Swindon, Oxford v Portsmouth, Sunderland v Fleetwood.