The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
The matches where it all went wrong for Posh
The Championship season started badly for Posh and never really improved.
Relegation seemed inevitable from the very early stages and the dreaded drop was confirmed by Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest.
Here are a dozen matches that emphasise what went wrong over the last nine months.
August 7: Luton Town 3, Posh 0
The first game of the season and any cheery optimism following a hard-won promotion from League One evaporated quickly at Kenilworth Road.
It's been alluded to many times this season, not least by the chairman, that the preparation and fitness work before a competitive ball had been kicked had been substandard. The opening day side was bullied by a much bigger, stronger, quicker and better organised side. It was a chilling taste of what was to come.
August 17: Posh 2, Cardiff City 2.
Posh had beaten Derby County in their first home game of the season and actually played pretty well against Cardiff a few days later.
They were comfortably the better side while establishing a 2-0 lead, but Posh conceded on 83 minutes and then visibly wilted and panicked when a team of hoofballers started bombing the ball into the home penalty area.
A 95th minute equaliser duly arrived and concerns about the team's mentality and physicality were raised. It would be the first of many occasions when Posh conceded goals in quick succession in matches, often late on.
September 14: Reading 3, Posh 1.
Jack Marriott limped out of this game which would have serious ramifications for the chances of survival.
And after the game a row between manager Darren Ferguson and Christy Pym became so serious (insults and a boot were allegedly flung) the boss vowed the goalkeeper would never play for him again. An unhappy dressing room never leads to success.
October 16: Middlesbrough 2, Posh 0.
Middlesbrough fielded just one fit defender in this match and he was about 40. And yet Posh managed zero shots on target which was a recurring issue under Ferguson.
To be fair to Posh they were denied a most blatant penalty by hopeless referee John Busby when the score was 0-0 before capitulating again late on. This game was proof that Posh couldn't expect too much from second tier referees.
It was after this game that the PT declared that Posh were in danger of going down with 'a whimper'. Posh won their next two games so maybe we should have published the same article more often. November 27: Posh 0,
Barnsley 0.
The two worst teams in the Championship clashed on a foul day at London Road. It was only November, but this was a must-win match making Ferguson's decision to start with untested youngster Kai Corbett up front a bold or stupid one.
Posh still should have won as million-pound summer signing Joel Randall blazed badly wide late on. Questionable selections/tactics usually accompany a relegation season, while Randall's rare appearances did nothing to quieten down criticism of the club's summer recruitment.
January 22: West Brom 3, Posh 0.
Five at the back (actually it was nearer 10) returned for this game at West Brom. It
seemed an alien defensive approach for this club and manager Darren Ferguson, and it didn't work anyway as Posh collapsed late on to lose 3-0.
The negative approach was attempted too often and never threatened to be successful. Posh fans wanted to see their side have a go at least and too often they didn't.
January 25: Birmingham City 2, Posh 2.
Posh outplayed a dismal Birmingham side and lead 2-0 with just five minutes to go. They then failed to mark a player 12 yards from goal to concede and an equaliser inevitably followed soon after.
Remarkably the home side missed an open goal to win the game. Posh again showed they didn't react well to pressure. This win would have dragged
Birmingham into the relegation fight. Instead they fluked a point and then recruited well before the end of the January transfer window, while Posh signed a bunch of players who played only a handful of games between them.
February 16: Posh 0, Reading 0.
Posh had a whole host of key games in February against relegation rivals in what Ferguson described as a 'make or break' month.
Those games finished 0-4, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1 and 0-3. The biggest disappointment was this draw when Joe Ward missed a great chance to win a game which would have taken Posh above their opponents . Ferguson quit after the damaging 1-0 loss at Derby three days later.
February 26: Posh 0, Hull 3.
Grant McCann was back as Posh boss and it was all set up for a fairytale return as his first official opponents were Hull, the club who had unfairly sacked him a month earlier.
Hull were in terrible form but cantered to a 3-0 win. No blame is attached to McCann, but hope had been attached to a new manager bounce which eventually arrived too late to make a difference.
April 23: Posh 0, Nottingham Forest 1
A win would have kept the season alive, but despite a committed display Posh lacked the quality to prise open a tough defence. The lack of Championship quality, after Dembele had left at least, was apparent all season.