Turning garbage into gold in just eight days was a stunning achievement by a Peterborough United team who now hold a World record!

What a journey the club and its followers have been on since Darragh met Darren. They’ve even managed to turn the unloved EFL Trophy competition into something to be desired. Days like yesterday make playing in front of 1,500 in Gillingham on a cold winter’s night worth it.

There are some clubs, including one not far from Peterborough, who never challenge for anything never mind win anything. Their only desires are avoiding relegation and winning the odd derby game. That’s not what Posh are about. Even a season full of mishaps and misery has been rescued by a glittering prize earned on the grandest of stages in front of the biggest crowd ever to watch a Posh match. From delivering garbage to delivering a golden performance in eight days is a remarkable achievement, given what they had to overcome at Wembley.

Champions Birmingham City’s record in League One this season demands they be regarded as one of the best teams to ever grace the division. They started the Vertu Trophy FInal 47 points and 15 places better off than Posh in terms of league standings, but they were undone by a young team who rose magnificently to the occasion.

Especially Harley Mills, one of the most obvious man-of-the-match winners in a major final. Last season an Academy graduate left-back won the day in this final on this ground and it has happened again. Mills (19) scored the crucial opening goal direct from a free-kick, but also defended so manfully against the dangerous Ethan Laird, the ex-Manchester United man was taken off midway through the second-half.

By then Posh had added a second goal, another sumptuous finish from captain Hector Kyprianou which inevitably included a contribution from Mills. The expected onslaught in the second-half didn’t really arrive from a team who very quickly ran out of attacking ideas against a back-line which included three defenders and a goalkeeper who have received justifiable stick this season. They all made ample amends in this game as Manny Fernandez and Oscar Wallin were an outstanding centre-back pairing, while James Dornelly never shied away from the challenge of marking two exceptional individuals, including one who cost £15 million.

Goalkeeper Jed Steer produced a save of the season contender when there was still time to make Posh nervous.

But it’s now three EFL Trophies, all of them won at Wembley, and four promotions, three of them into the Championship, the one frontier this chairman and manager have yet to conquer. Maybe one day they will.

TALKING POINTS FROM POSH 2, BIRMINGHAM 0…..

1) Hands up, I never saw this coming. I was only half-joking when I decided to jinx the hot favourites by writing Posh had no chance at Wembley after the Tuesday meeting between the clubs. I am a terrible tipster. I genuinely didn’t fancy Posh at all though. I knew Posh with all their pace would be able to exploit the wide open spaces of Wembley, but I also felt Birmingham would get joy from firing the ball beyond two rookie full-backs. They tried, but Dornelly and Mills held firm, whereas the timing of the Posh passes into the path of their flying forwards was often superb. The finishing didn’t match, but the speed of Jones, the neat touches from Malik Mothersille, the quality of Kwame Poku and the expert positioning of Abraham Odoh ensured the hot favourites couldn’t afford to go too gung-ho. It was a tactical masterclass from the manager, one brilliantly backed up by his players.

2) The average age of the Posh outfield players was 22.5. They beat one of the most expensively-assembled League One teams of all-time, one that has lost just three League One games all season, in front of over 70,000 fans who generated a raucous atmosphere. Let that sink in.

3) Some of the individual performances were so good in front of a huge audience it wouldn’t be the greatest surprise if Norwich City resurrected their £2 million bid for streaky centre-back Emmanuel Fernandez. Hector Kyprianou’s chances of attracting Championship attention in the summer were already high, but his Wembley display probably ensured more tier two clubs will now show an interest. Kwame Poku’s body of work all season will guarantee him a major move and it will be fascinating to see where Ricky-Jade Jones ends up. There will be decent clubs out there who fancy they can add technical gifts to phenomenal pace. Jones was a nightmare for a couple of top-notch central defenders yesterday.

4) The record attendance for a competitive Posh match in 91 years of history was shattered. It now stands at 71,772 which was made up, roughly, of 43,000 Birmingham fans, 19,000 Posh fans – down 4,000 on last season – and 9,000 corporate guests. The 64,531 who watched Posh lose a 1961 FA Cup tie at Aston Villa has been relegated to second place.

5) Posh set a world record yesterday. The EFL reported: ‘Posh have a 100%-win ratio at Wembley, winning all five of their matches there. This is the most games any team has played at Wembley while winning each game. Before today, Posh were level with Barcelona (4/4)!’ Others records fell as Darren Ferguson became the first manager to win the competition three times and the first to win it back-to-back with the same club. No club had ever won the EFL Trophy two years in a row. It was first played for in 1982.

6) Instead of claiming his side were better than Posh at Wembley (they weren’t) Birmingham City boss Chris Davies should have been reflecting on his decision to take off Ethan Laird (his most potent attacking force) midway through the second-half and on not bringing powerful centre-forward Lukas Jutkiewicz on earlier as they had no physical presence in the penalty area and they had found it impossible to play through a brilliant Posh defence.

7) Six days after winning the EFL Trophy last season Posh were thumped 5-0 at Oxford United in a League One game. With the end of the current campaign so close now Posh can’t afford a hangover performance. They could secure League One safety on Good Friday if they beat Stockport County and Bristol Rovers lose at Wrexham, given the vast difference in the clubs’ goal difference. But if Posh lose both Easter games and Rovers win both of theirs the teams will be level on points. It’s no time to relax and believe the season is now over.