Why Peterborough United still face a perilous journey towards safety in League One despite a welcome win against Wigan Athletic

A first senior goal for Mahamadou Susoho delivered a first win in nine League One games for Darren Ferguson’s side, but it remains a rare relegation fight at this level for Posh. It’s probably best to keep those route planners to Barrow and Bromley at hand until Posh also start winning away from home.

Posh have 18 League One matches remaining and 11 of them are road trips, a scary statistic given Fergie’s men haven’t returned home with three points since the third Saturday of the season.

That form needs to improve quickly as Posh have four League One games away from home and none at London Road in February. If Posh are still at least six points clear of the drop zone at the end of the month we could all breathe a little easier.

The easiest of those matches arrives on Sunday when Posh are at relegation rivals Bristol Rovers. It’s a huge game for confidence reasons as well as the chance to put five points between the teams.

TALKING POINTS FROM POSH 1, WIGAN 0…

1) Expectations re flowing, goal-laden football from this Posh team are now pretty much nil. It’s a shame, but needs must and a pragmatic approach will serve this set of players better than asking them to play expansively in all areas of the pitch. This was a poor game between two poor teams, but to follow a horror show at Lincoln City with a clean sheet and any sort of win should be applauded. Wins breed confidence which in turn should inspire better individual displays. Posh deserved their victory last night, but the performance was far from an indicator of better times ahead.

2) Only two Posh players who had started the last game of last season – the play-off semi-final with Oxford United – also started against Wigan. It’s been a rapid overhaul of one of the best footballing sides in Posh history and not in a good way. Economics and the understandable desire of players to perform at a higher level have disrupted progress. Not a single new player has been better than the one they replaced, although right-back Carl Johnston could prove to be the exception in time. Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony has suggested his club won’t be making any further new signings in January, which one assumes/hopes would not be the case should Hector Kyprianou or Ricky-Jade Jones depart.

3) Johnston and fellow recent recruits Sam Hughes and Tayo Edun have clearly improved the Posh back four, in home games at least. But for Edun’s late rush of blood against Exeter City they would be celebrating a third straight clean sheet at the Weston Homes Stadium. Edun reminded me of Nathanael Ogbeta last night with his bursts forward. His cross for the only goal of the game was the highest quality moment by some distance.

4) Anyone who believes football team captains are an irrelevance never saw the influence Mick Halsall had on Posh sides that were poor in the early days of his London Road career. Hughes is at Posh on loan and was given the captain’s armband in his fourth start for the club last night. He’s apparently a demanding, vocal personality who will also lead from the front, a la Halsall. He barely lost a header last night which made a pleasant change for a Posh centre-back.

5) It would have been interesting to see Gustav Lindgren playing for last season’s Posh team. The runs he makes could easily have led to a host of scoring chances for him with the likes of Ephron Mason-Clark and Harrison Burrows providing the service. There was very little link-up play between the forwards until the closing stages last night when Abraham Odoh sprang into action, by which time Lindgren had departed.

6) Struggling teams will often bemoan their bad luck with injuries, cruel deflections and refereeing decisions going against them, but Posh received a huge break before kick-off against Wigan as the visitors sold their star man Thelo Aasgaard to Luton Town. Without him ‘the Latics’ were poor and failed to deliver a single shot on target in 99 minutes of play.

7) Posh have scored the first goal in eight League One home games this season and haven’t lost any of them, winning on six occasions.