The leakiest defence in the division and a misfiring forward line is a relegation recipe for Peterborough United

Posh boss Darren Ferguson knew it judging by his post-match comments as did a celebrity pundit and many fans who contacted the PT when the dust had settled on a 1-1 draw at Stevenage. The point kept Posh out of the relegation zone until next Saturday at least, but the good news pretty much stopped there as far as the future is concerned.

The fact taking a point from the Lamex Stadium is even fleetingly considered a decent result is confirmation of how horrible this campaign has become for Posh, and that’s not an attempt to decry Saturday’s hosts who have been punching above their natural weight impressively this season.

Positives can be taken from a team who defended solidly, albeit against the side with the second worst scoring record in the division, and from an improvement in passing through the thirds as well as a decent reaction to falling behind.

But with the tough games on the horizon, and a 10-week schedule that looks fraught with danger, there’s every chance not beating modest opposition when enjoying 60% of the possession will be seen as a crucial afternoon when the final reckoning arrives.

TALKING POINTS FROM STEVENAGE 1, POSH 1…

1) There’s understandably been a lot said about the Posh defending this season. They are still League One’s leakiest defence, conceding close to two goals a game, but evidence is also piling up against an attack that has lost its way badly. Posh still haven’t scored more than one goal in a League One game since New Year’s Day, a run of eight matches. Posh worked themselves into many dangerous areas at Stevenage and yet home goalkeeper Murphy Cooper made no saves of any consequence in almost 100 minutes of action. Apart from one from Chris Conn-Clarke in the first-half the crossing was poor and rarely ventured past the first defender, while there was no connection between the forwards aside from a well-taken goal from Cian Hayes who did most of the work himself.

2) Centre-forward Ricky-Jade Jones is struggling and still lacks the instincts of a natural striker in terms of timing his runs and the positions he takes up in the penalty area. Too often he wanders offside and too often he’s on his heels when he should be getting into his impressive stride. On a couple of second-half occasions he was in the perfect position to strike, but the pass to him was misdirected or overhit, or both in the case of one opportunity for Abraham Odoh late on. Posh have a free week up to the tough contest at Huddersfield on Saturday when a wide pitch will be available, which in theory should suit a team with speed to burn. Timing patterns for forwards should be high on the coaching agenda. Posh suffered on Saturday because they ended up playing in front of a robust back four rather than exploiting a big advantage in pace by getting in behind. The best long Posh pass yesterday was delivered by goalkeeper Jed Steer with a raking 60 yarder straight into Malik Mothersille’s path.

3) Posh also need to be braver around the opposition penalty area. Too often yesterday players took the safe option of an extra pass, backwards usually, when shooting or crossing earlier looked a decent option. Posh did well in getting bodies into the Stevenage penalty area in the last quarter of the game, but the runs forward always proved fruitless because of delayed or poor deliveries. I’m not sure Posh have anyone with the quality of Dan Kemp who scored the Stevenage goal from the edge of the penalty area after taking advantage of some lazy closing down, but good things can happen when you hit the ball at goal. There have been enough deflected goals past the Posh goalkeepers this season to prove that.

4) There are many teams, and some good ones at that, who can overcome attacking deficiencies by scoring regularly from set-pieces. Posh don’t have that luxury. Left-back Tay Edun was on set-piece taking duty at the Lamex Stadium. Posh won just three corners, but there several free kicks in threatening areas and they never looked like leading to a goal. If only Sam Hughes could win headers when in opposition territory like he does when defending his own area and the halfway line, but then he doesn’t have defenders holding him down while referees look the other way in those instances.

5) Conn-Clarke scored 22 goals on his way to becoming National League player-of-the-year last season. He has yet to score for Posh, while assists have also been rare, and he was taken off with his side still behind yesterday. The number 10 position is pivotal to the way Posh want to play. Tangible contributions from Conn-Clarke are essential.

6) Cian Hayes replaced Conn-Clarke and made an immediate impact. He’s comfortably been the best option on the right-hand side of the Posh attack in Kwame Poku’s absence and yet Odoh, who did okay yesterday to be fair, was preferred even though running at former Posh left-back Lewis Freestone was always likely to yield dividends and Hayes is the better option for that. Freestone was cautioned for hacking Odoh down in the second-half and beaten easily by Hayes as he scored the equalising goal. The failure to get Hayes on the ball at every opportunity after his goal was frustrating. The failure to start him in this game equally so.