Posh will soon be able to dare to dream of promotion

Is it time for Posh to dare to dream?

Probably not just yet, but if they can get through the busy festive programme unscatched and recruit well in January, automatic promotion would be well within their reach.

Posh weren’t great against Bolton, but they still could have been 4-0 up at the break and thus avoid the nervy final 25 minutes that inevitably followed the failure to find a second goal.

Winning without playing well is an excellent trait for successful sides though as is strong home form and the ability to keep clean sheets and Posh are going well on all three fronts.

A lethal front three is also handy. One of them is always firing and last weekend it was Ivan Toney’s who made a difficult headed chance look easy when Louis Reed sent a fine deep cross in his direction midway through the first-half.

If Mo Eisa had been half as sharp as his strike partner he would have had a hat-trick, but he was denied one goal by Toney accidentally getting in his way, another when he managed to strike the crossbar from close range and another when he took the ball of Serhat Tasdemir’s toes only to find Bolton defender

Josh Earl on the goalline.

It didn’t seem likely to matter as Posh created another golden scoring opportunity at the start of the second-half, but Toney this time found a defender on the line after easing past Bolton ‘keeper Remi Matthews.

But Posh then stopped. Bolton changed to a more adventurous policy, but, thankfully for home fans, lacked any bite up front against a back three who defended very solidly.

Luke Murphy missed Bolton’s best chance with a free diving header from 12 yards. Otherwise Posh ‘keeper Christy Pym was busied only by a couple of grasscutters from Murphy and Joe Doodoo which he handled expertly. The 3-4-1-2 formation employed again in this match by manager Darren Ferguson suits the defenders at his disposal without diluting the threat of his star forwards.

There will obviously be much tougher challenges to come - Bolton are nailed on to win League Two next season but Posh have responded well to back-to-back away defeats in November. They now seem like a mere blip.

Posh could have been 4-0 up at the break without playing well.

Agony for Ivan Toney as another chance goes begging