They were ultimately duffed up at Blackpool, but Peterborough United are halfway to being a decent League One side

A strange claim to make perhaps straight after a 4-0 mauling at Blackpool which made it two defeats in two away games, but for 55 minutes or so I enjoyed watching Posh when they had the ball.

They were bright, quick and incisive. They worked themselves into strong attacking positions and they created three glorious scoring chances only this time, unlike at Watford, they didn’t take them. Assuming new recruit Danny Ormerod proves to be worth a £600k gamble, Posh have attacking players capable of winning many matches at this level.

But without a solid defensive base it won’t happen and another season of struggle will be inevitable. If one good thing came from the concession of some awful goals at Bloomfield Road it confirmed the need for defensive recruitment in the next few days, preferably in time for them to play against Stevenage, a team built to capitalise on the physical and mental deficiencies we saw at Bloomfield Road, on Tuesday.

Believing we could base a back four on two centre-backs with recent long-term injury issues always seemed fanciful and it hasn’t taken long to receive confirmation.

TALKING POINTS FROM BLACKPOOL 4, POSH 0…

1) The form of goalkeeper Alex Bass papered over some defensive issues last season, but that safety net has now been removed somewhat. It’s fair to suggest Bass could have done better with five of the seven goals Posh have conceded this season, although the protection he received at times has been negligible. David Okagbue doesn’t make the most of his physical attributes, Tom O’Connor looked well off the pace yesterday and Harley Mills failed to build on the promise of his defensive effort at Vicarage Road.

2) Posh conceded twice from set-pieces yesterday and created nothing from the five corners they won themselves. The club now has a dedicated set-piece coach. Blackpool boss Ian Evatt commented on the importance of set-plays after the match. Scoring from a cross into the box from a free kick settled his side down after a traumatic start. ‘The Seasiders’ went top of the league with their win, but they barely had to work at all to score their goals. None arrived from quality passing moves, but last season Stevenage showed teams can be successful by having more creativity in their set-piece routines than in their general play.

3) Physical and mental weakness are charges often thrown at Posh and justifiably so. The reaction to falling a goal down against the run of play yesterday was dreadful and a second goal was conceded almost immediately. Posh did recover their composure, poise and domination of the ball for the rest of the first-half, but after leaking goal number three before the hour mark they became meek and subservient. Blackpool had a couple of great chances to rub more salt into the wounds in the latter stages. Hopefully Posh can recover quickly and beat a Stevenage side who have yet to win this season. Six points from the first four matches would be a satisfactory start.

4) Goals do change matches. Scoring first during that rampant opening might have knocked Blackpool’s confidence, but the Posh defending was so poor I doubt the outcome would have been any different. The worst attacking moment for me was the three-on-one break which ended with Brandon Khela being caught offside because Ethan Williams played the wrong pass to the wrong man at the wrong time.

5) There is much to admire about midfielder Khela. He moves well and he carries the ball well, but he he is not great at accepting the ball with his back to a defender as he showed too often in the first-half yesterday. Khela is also not the greatest passer and is unlikely to open up a defence with a clever turn and through ball. In hindsight, given the way the game panned out and the space available early on, it was probably an error not to start Harrison Jones. Liam Kelly was fine, but Ben Woods failed to make an impact at all even when Posh were dominant.

6) Footballers have already found a way around the new directive regarding time wasting at throw in. Referees, and Martin Coy was generally very good yesterday, don’t blow the whistle and start the five-second countdown until the ball is in a player’s hands so said player just walks even more slowly to the ball to chew up some seconds.