The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Problems to solve in three matches
Posh boss Darren Ferguson has nothing to apologise for and neither does skipper Harrison Burrows.
But both felt compelled to hold their hands up in front of 998 travelling fans at the end of last Saturday’s 5-0 disaster at Oxford United.
Everyone was fuming on the final whistle at the Kassam Stadium. The media men and the supporters as well as the gaffer and his players.
One of the perils of wilfully fielding a young and inexperienced side is inconsistency and the arrival of off days, but Posh are still way ahead of all our expectations for this season with just three games to go.
Dreams of automatic promotion, and even the title, have now been dashed, but Championship football next season via the League One play-offs is still very much on.
It’s going to test Ferguson’s management skills over the next three matches as he must balance getting rest into some key players with a need to go into the playoffs with some momentum, and preferably not in sixth place which is likely to mean a semi-final against big hitters Bolton Wanderers or Derby County.
There are problems to solve and the next three matches must be used to do just that.
Stick or twist
Ronnie Edwards, Harrison Burrows and Ephron Mason-Clark have all made 50 or more competitive appearances this season. Other key players are not far off the half century mark.
Posh have to play their final three games in eight days starting with a trip to Bristol Rovers on Saturday so some rotation has to happen. Playing a semi-final second leg at home would be favourable, especially after what happened
last season, but it’s not as essential as giving players a much-needed break.
Ferguson’s team selectionswillbefascinatingespecially as Bolton come to Posh on the final day of the season and could be playing for automatic promotion.
Finishing school
Malik Mothersille needs to start the next three matches at centre-forward. The pressing skills, speed and workrate of Ricky-Jade Jones are all admirable, but he is a centre-forward in an exciting
attacking team who isn’t in double figures for League One goals yet, and Posh have scored 80 of them. Mothersille isn’t the finished article either, but the former Chelsea youngster deserves a run of games as much as Jones needs to be taken out of the firing line.
Now or never?
Ferguson needs to remind his players they are still enjoying a terrific season. They’ve pushed the three biggest clubs in the division all the way in the race for automatic
promotion.
But this is the season to get out of this division as it will be a lot stronger in 202425 as the teams coming down won’t be burdened by points deductions and the teams coming up have financial muscle behind them.
Bad results happen, but they need not be terminal. Oxford were awful in losing 5-0 at Bolton in the middle of March but, before the midweek defeat to Lincoln, they’d won four out of five unbeaten games, scoring 16 goals and conceding just one.