The League 1 campaign for automatic promotion has in the recent weeks been billed as a race between 2nd placed Southampton, 3rd placed Huddersfield and 5th placed MK Dons. Are we forgetting someone, OF COURSE Brighton, NO? They are already up face it, no team has been more consistent then the Seagulls and they deserve their place in the Championship, Gus Poyet has got them playing beautifully fluent football and they look like natural Championship contenders.
So who has been forgotten, none other than MY team 4th place Peterborough United. We are still in this race, Oh yes. Rochdale’s Tuesday defeat of Southampton has thrust is straight back into the race for that 2nd automatic spot, the weekends result against the Terriers could have gone better for us, but last minute goals happen and we have to deal with that, get over it and move on.
Why do I think Posh shouldn’t be ignored in the race for promotion, well we have the League 1 player of the year and soon to be (hopefully) top goalscorer, Craig Mackail-Smith. We have under Darren Ferguson been able to stop our leaky defence that ailed us in the middle of the season. Ryan Bennet and Gabriel Zukuani have forged a solid partnership in the centre of defence, shoring up the leak, yes Posh have suffered in the weeks Ryan Bennet has not appeared but when they start alongside each other as they are set to for this weekend’s clash against bottom side Plymouth, we look much more likely to keep a clean sheet.
One factor which has been slightly overlooked though is the fact that for the first time in the season we have been able to field a specialised left-back, in the shape of either Tom Kennedy or Grant Basey. The fact was that square pegs in round holes, ie. Tommy Rowe, Seth Nana Ofuri-Towurmusi and Lewin Nyatanga just didn’t cut it in the position. Our opponents saw this weakness and exploited it ruthlessly.
What is next for Posh then, well bar an injury to Craig Mackail-Smith, George Boyd or more goalkeeping gaffs from Joe Lewis, we have a relatively simple run of games leading up to the final game against the Daggers. With CMS on form, Grant McCann back to his playmaking sense, Boyd given the freedom he deserves and maybe a bit of luck we could sneak into the 2nd spot.
What will the consequences be if we don’t, well the play-offs don’t seem to daunting seeing as Posh have a 100% record in them so far, but what if we don’t get promotion. Well that’s a goodbye to CMS (whether we go up or not), Joe Lewis, Grant McCann, Gabriel Zukuani, George Boyd and maybe others. Can I bare that, I suppose. Well as long as we keep unearthing gems like Lee Tomlin and David Ball every once in a while.
By John Fernandez