When Rotherham United won 5-0 at Peterborough United with half their first-team missing
Understrength teams do win football matches and a past Peterborough United v Rotherham United match is proof of that.
A flu bug had swept through the squad of automatic promotion-chasing Rotherham ahead of a Division Three game at London Road on Boxing Day, 1999. Things were so bad Millers boss Ronnie Moore was keen to have the game postponed.
The Football League refused and Rotherham promptly won the game 5-0 at the home of a promotion rival! At the time it was a record Football League home defeat for Posh. Current Derby County manager Paul Warne scored twice for the Millers with Leo Fortune-West, Steve Thompson and Danny Hudson also on target. Former Posh player Gary Martindale and future Posh player Guy Branston played for Rotherham.
The defeat was the catalyst for great upheaval at London Road as it was the final game for the club for young superstars Simon Davies and Matthew Etherington who were hauled off at half-time, partly to protect an impending move to Spurs for them both. Two days after the defeat coach Paul Ashworth was sacked.
Remarkably Posh went on to win promotion through the play-offs after highly-regarded coach Wayne Turner pitched up to assist manager Barry Fry. Rotherham finished second and went up automatically.
Posh are the team with several players missing tomorrow. Maybe they can deliver a most unlikely result as well.
Posh: Griemink, Hooper, Drury, Chapple, Edwards, Davies, Gill, Etherington, Farrell, Forinton, Clarke. Subs used: Castle, Hanlon.
Perhaps surprisingly Rotherham have only won two of 17 Football League games at Posh, but there have been nine draws. Posh won the last meeting 2-1 in January, 2020 2-1 with early goals from Ivan Toney and Sammie Szmodics.