The real damage was done for Peterborough United the week before, a formation that never looked like working, but there is still hope...

The Tractor Boys have been the best team in the division by some distance in the last couple of months. They have considerable financial muscle and they have used it well under an astute young manager.

Ipswich had never won at London Road in a Football League match before yesterday, but should Posh have expected to beat them again? Not really, although it would have been good to see them have a go, take a few chances, try and rough them up a bit and knock them out of their stride, rather than play so meekly on the way to an inevitable defeat. There was far too much respect shown, in the way the team was set up and in the way the players set about an admittedly difficult task.

It’s likely nothing would have worked as there appeared to be no obvious weaknesses in the visiting side. They were certainly quicker in mind as well as in body, but also stronger and better organised.

This was like a Championship match involving Posh from last season when the outcome looked obvious from the outset so anything from this game would have been a huge bonus.

The bigger blunder from Posh was losing in a similarly lacklustre fashion at Cambridge United the Saturday before. Posh should have been capable of winning that contest, against a team who have beaten twice since, and thus entering the final two matches with a top-six spot still in their hands.

Instead they put too much pressure on themselves ny now needing to beat a superior team and crumbled.

TALKING POINTS FROM POSH 0, IPSWICH 3…

1) Posh are now favourites to miss out on the play-offs following scrambled home wins for Derby County and Bolton Wanderers yesterday. Bolton will be five points clear of Darren Ferguson’s side if they gain their expected victory at home to Accrington Stanley on Tuesday. But The Rams, who needed a penalty to beat neighbours Burton, are catchable. They have awkward fixtures at home to Portsmouth and at Sheffield Wednesday to come. Posh will be hoping Ipswich and Plymouth slip up in Tuesday night games to increase the chances of Wednesday having something to play for on the final day of the regular season. Of course all the permutations could become irrelevant if Posh don’t win their final two matches and taking the season into the last game by beating Bristol Rovers at London Road next Saturday is the first order of business.

2) The formation change made sense with the players available, but why it wasn’t ditched after half an hour or even sooner was baffling. Posh looked like a team waiting to lose. Three centre-backs made them look less secure defensively (obviously the standard of opposition has to be taken into account) and Posh couldn’t pass the ball quickly, postively or accurately enough to get their bets midfielder Jack Taylor into the game. It was horribly passive and yet when Posh did hold the ball in the Ipswich half they caused problems. Visiting goalkeeper Christian Walton made two fine saves towards the end of the first-half which might be why Ferguson kept faith with the system for another 20 minutes. It was a mistake. Ipswich controlled the first half of each half with ease and scored within the first 20 minutes. Posh went four at the back midway through the second period and immediately enjoyed a five-minute spell of pressure which almost led to a goal and forced Ipswich intro a couple of more defensive-minded changes. It was too late by then.

3) That spell of Posh pressure inevitably led to two Ipswich players sitting on the turf asking for attention they didn’t need. This ‘tactic’ is a scourge of the modern game, not helped by the reluctance of referees to take proper action. Gavin Ward even cautioned Conor Chaplin for taking too long to leave the field after a two-and-half-minute delay, but, and despite the use of seven second-half substitutes, he played just four extra minutes at the end of the game. Again, like the weekend before, it made no difference to the outcome, but it does nothing to deter players acting the same way in every game. It’s lamentable really. Weak referees like Ward, who is seen in the Championship most weekends, will continue to be exposed until wasted time is added on properly a la the World Cup.

4) When Posh lose they do it properly. Few would deny Posh have improved under Ferguson, but since his return that's a 5-0 and a pair of 3-0 defeats at home. Posh have played 11 times at London Road in 2023 and failed to score in six of them, five of them under Ferguson’s management.

5) It’s been a frustrating season for summer signing Ben Thompson. He looked a lively midfielder in the summer and at the start of the League One season when he scored on his full debut in the home win over Morecambe. But he hasn’t started a game since the defeat at home to Barnsley on December 2. He played with the energy and drive most of his teammates lacked when he came on midway through the second-half yesterday, but it remains difficult to see him breaking into the starting line-up.

6) I assume Posh are committed to making Kabongo Tshimanga’s loan deal from Chesterfield permanent at the end of the season. I wonder though if there’s any wriggle room to withdraw from the signing. If you’re a striker who doesn’t get on when your team is desperate to come on when are you going to get on? Yesterday wasn’t the first time this scenario has unfolded.

7) Posh didn’t quite achieve a sell-out crowd yesterday, but the attendance of 12,785 was the biggest at London Road in League One this season, just 19 more than saw the Cambridge United match in October.