TALKING POINTS: Has Fergie finally found an away winning formula? Other results were welcome, but also a warning, this must be the club’s best defence for many years

Thankfully John Akinde’s Oscar bid and referee Charles Breakspear’s gullibility didn’t cost Posh anything at Gillingham last night (February 16) other than a clean sheet so there were more relevant things to discuss.

Like what caused the transformation from first-half also rans to second-half world beaters? It was as though the entire team had rushed to the nearest phone booth and changed from Clark Kent to Superman.

Logically three centre-backs and two wing-backs should have worked well against a team playing a midfield diamond, all of whom could have developed neckache seeing the ball fly over their heads for 45 minutes. But whereas Posh made hay in their previous outing against an Ipswich Town side playing in a similar way, they could make no headway against a fired-up Gills side who pushed their full-backs onto the Posh wingbacks whenever they were in possession in the knowledge there was no pace down the middle to hurt them.

The switch to 4-4-1-1 was a match-winning move and although there should be caution against believing this is the formation to finally deliver a string of away wins as the element of surprise will disappear, it would be a shock not to see it used again very soon.

OTHER TALKING POINTS

1) Playing Mo Eisa rather than Sirike Dembele from the start was understandable in theory after his promising return to action against Ipswich and the former was in the game more than fellow forwards Jonson Clarke-Harris and Sammie Szmodics in the first-half. But Dembele is a different, and far more dangerous animal, when on his game and he terrified the Gills defenders last night. The attacking wizard should be embarrassed that last night’s goal, which flew into the net off a defender, was his first in League One since his hat-trick against Shrewsbury on October 31. He’s much better than that. Posh manager Darren Ferguson keeps praising and backing Eisa publicly, but deep down he must know Dembele, Clarke-Harris and Szmodics staying fit for the final 19 matches is absolutely vital to the promotion bid.

2) There were still fans’ tweets knocking around last night suggesting a lack of confidence in Clarke-Harris, even after he’d scored twice - and what a cracking finish for his second goal - to move back to joint top of the League One scoring charts with 17 goals. Clarke-Harris only played 28 League One matches for Bristol Rovers last season - just one more than he’s already managed this season - but he looks like he is getting stronger to me. His all-round game is improving. He certainly finishes games powerfully. He might not be the best or most valuable player in this squad, but he is the most important purely because there is no like-for-like replacement.

3) There could hardly have been a better set of results for Posh over the last few days. Only Oxford’s come from behind win against lowly Wigan on Sunday was a poor result and they remain nine points behind Posh anyway. These results were welcome, but they were also a warning. Surprise results will be common this season as fitness could become as important as pure ability. The sides at the bottom can’t be taken lightly - Bristol Rovers ended a dismal run of results by beating Pompey last night - and Posh must play hard from the start against AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.

4) Wimbledon won’t have played for a fortnight when they pitch up at London Road, but one doubts whether Ferguson will freshen up his side too much for what looks like a home banker. The Posh boss keeps talking about team changes, but now the wingback positions seem settled again, he only voluntarily seems to switch Ethan Hamilton and Reece Brown around. Ferguson used just one sub last night and he must hope Posh can get clear early against the Dons to get a rest into the likes of Clarke-Harris ahead of a tough and long trip to Plymouth next Tuesday (February 23).

5) As bad as Posh were in the first-half last night, and for all the high balls pumped into their area, goalkeeper Christy Pym made no meaningful saves again last night. This Posh defence is as good as the club have had for years.

6) There was plenty of criticism of Gillingham’s extreme tactics last night with their former Posh boss Steve Evans bearing the brunt of it. He’s a decent manager for a club of Gillingham’s size though, for as long as they don’t harbour any other ambition than staying in League One. It’s unlikely they’d ever go down with Evans at the helm.