The greatest match between Peterborough United and Bolton Wanderers at London Road
Peterborough United haven’t beaten Bolton Wanderers in the current decade.
They’ve met seven times in Football League matches with three wins for Bolton and four draws the outcome.
The greatest match between these two clubs at London Road was undoubtedly the Championship fixture of December, 2012 which Posh won 5-4. This was the season when Posh were relegated with a record 54 points after losing their first seven matches of the campaign.
By the time ‘The Trotters’ came to town, Posh had started to stir, helped by the classy arrivals of striker Dwight Gayle from Dagenham & Redbridge and on-loan midfielder George Thorne from West Bromwich Albion.
Remarkably Posh scored twice in the first six minutes through Lee Tomlin and Gayle and it was stayed that way until the final minute of the first-half when current Brentford manager Keith Andrews converted a penalty for the visitors. Thorne made it 3-1 two minutes after the re-start , but Andrews replied with a second penalty on 56 minutes.
Posh then powered clear with goals from defenders Mark Little and Gaby Zakuani. Zakuani’s 83rd minute header was followed quickly by Bolton goals for Benik Afobe and Martin Petrov which set up a grandstand finish which Posh survived. A surprisingly low crowd of just over 6,600 watched the game.
Posh remained bottom of the table, but it was a sixth win in 10 matches. They went on to show top-six form in the second-half of the season before missing out on survival by a single point.
Posh v Bolton 2012: Olejnik, Little, Bostwick, Zakuani, Knight-Percival, Rowe, Newell, Thorne, Tomlin, Gayle, Boys. Subs used: Alcock, Ferdinand.
Last 7 Posh results v Bolton
October 2025: Bolton 2, Posh 1.
April 2025: Posh 1, Bolton 1
October 2024: Bolton 0, Posh 0.
April 2024: Posh 3, Bolton 3.
September 2023: Bolton 1, Posh 1.
February 2023: Posh 0, Bolton 5.
September 2022: Bolton 1, Posh 0.
BOLTON DANGERS
Winger Amario-Cozier Duberry has been the standout Bolton player this season. The 20 year-old on-loan Brighton player has been a virtual ever-present, scoring seven goals, some of them quite brilliant, in 27 appearances in all competitions.
Bolton boss Steven Schumacher rotated his squad regularly over the festive programme, but was left frustrated after following a last-gasp win over Rotherham with a defeat at home to Mansfield and draws with struggling sides Doncaster and Cobblers.
On-loan Hull City forward Mason Burstow is the Bolton top scorer in League One games with seven goals, but he hasn’t found the back of the net since his early-game brace against Posh at the start of October.
Former Posh men Kyle Dempsey and Joel Randall are in the Bolton squad. Bolton boss Steven Schumacher has been speaking about Randall lately.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Ollie Yates is the referee for Posh v Bolton. He did the reverse fixture last season when he awarded (correctly) Bolton a last-gasp penalty which led to the only goal of the game scored by now Posh player Klaidi Lolos.
Yates also refereed Posh when they lost 2-1 at Doncaster at the end of November.
BIG MATCH ODDS
Bolton are favourites to win Saturday’s game at Posh with Sky Bet. ‘The Trotters’ are 23-20 to win with Posh at 19-10 and the draw chalked up at 9-4. The same firm have Posh at 20-1 to be promoted, 13-2 to finish in the top six and 18-1 to be relegated.