Siriki is sure the play-offs are still within reach

Flying winger Siriki Dembele reckons Posh could have timed their return to form perfectly.

Successive wins have given Posh hope they could yet overcome the odds and sneak into the play-off places.

Sky Bet bookmakers make Doncaster 1/12 to finish sixth with Posh at 15/2.

But Dembele said: “The pressure has been on us because we started the season so well. If we’d started more slowly and just made steady progress, people would be more relaxed and say we are in a very good position which we are.

“It’s all about making the play-offs for us now and we are all highly motivated to do just that.

“We are focussed on our own results as we can’t control what anyone else is doing.”

Dembele won the sponsors’ man-of-the-match award last weekend on his first start since the beginning of February.

He’d been absent with an ankle injury, but returned in style by winning the penalty which enabled Marcus Maddison to fire Posh in front.

“It was fantastic to be back,” Dembele enthused.

“Six weeks off might not seem a long time to some people, but when I wake up every morning I want to play football so it was a long time for me.”

Maddison has been nominated for Sky Bet’s League One player-of-the-month prize for March after scoring four goals, including two spectacular free-kicks, and contributed three assists.

Maddison’s rivals are Barnsley full-back Dimitri Cavare, Burton striker Lucas Atkins and Bristol Rovers forward Jonson Clarke-Harris.