Simply the best

Good luck to Jonson ClarkHarris in his bid to make Posh fans forget star striker Ivan Toney.

Toney is as near to irreplaceable as Peterborough Telegraph Posh writer Alan Swann has ever seen in his near 30 years covering the club.

Toney has moved effortlessy into Alan’s top 10 strikers he’s seen in a Posh shirt, but in what position?

Here is Alan’s top 10 with apologies to Terry Bly and Derek Dougan (he never saw them play for Posh) and to Dennis Emery and Tony Adcock, two class acts, but we’ve restricted this list to out-and-out forwards.

Alan’s top 10 in reverse order....

10 Jimmy Quinn

He was 37 when he pitched up at London Road, but he was still a lethal marksman in League Two, displaying remarkable accuracy with either foot and his head.

Scored 20 League goals in his only full season with Posh. A top bloke as well.

9 Jack Marriott

One season of brilliant fin3 ishing (33 goals) and he was gone for £4 million to the Championship. Hard working fox in the box.

8 Aaron Mclean

Superb in the air, deadly when through on goal and one half of a dynamic duo with Craig Mackail-Smith who shot the side to back-toback promotions.

7 Ken Charlery

The King. The two goal-hero of Wembley 1992 who managed three spells at Posh without his popularity waning. Big and strong and ran hard for the team.

6 Britt Assombalonga.

Another to bag 33 goals in just one season at Posh before landing a big money move to the Championship. Scored all sorts of goals thanks to two powerful feet, extreme pace and a cool head.

5 Leon McKenzie.

Carried a pretty average Posh side before earning the bigmoney move he deserved to Norwich City. Strong as an ox, decent in the air and a quality left foot.

4 Robbie Cooke

Still the best one-on-one finishers I’ve ever seen at Posh. Plucked out of non-league football and took the old Fourth Division in his stride, helped by the quality style of football employed by Peter Morris’s men.

3 Craig Mackail-Smith

The improvement in a forward who needed several chances to score a goal and who was constantly offside was rapid and impressive.

By the end of his Posh days he was still the most hard-working, aggressive, permanently mobile, very quick forward capable of upsetting the most rugged of lower league defences, but he was also technically able and his finishing became very reliable.

A top man who earned his exciting move to Brighton and it was great to see him return to London Road on loan to bag his 100th goal for the club.

2 Ivan Toney

The big man has it all. He’s physically imposing, he’s strong in the air and he has an excellent touch and technique.

By the end of last season he looked unplayable at League One level and was scoring all types of goal.

It will be fascinating to see how far he progresses. Certainly the Championship shouldn’t be a problem.

1 Dwight Gayle

He only played 29 times for Posh and he only scored 13 goals, but he played a huge part in some outstanding club form in the Championship season of 2012-13. It’s just a shame relegation meant Posh were denied a second season of watching a striker with an impeccable technique, great pace and movement and wonderful finishing skills. He was quick, he was clever and he scored with either foot and his head as a ‘perfect hat-trick’ at Blackburn proved. Dwight is still my number one, but it was very close!

POSH FACT 4

Jim Hall (1967-1970) and Craig Mackail-Smith (2008-2011) are the only Posh players to top the club’s Football League scoring charts three seasons in succession.