Peterborough United 5-1 Northampton Town – What did we learn?

It was an ideal night for Darren Ferguson’s men on Tuesday night as they breezed past Northampton Town at the Weston Homes Stadium. But what did we learn?  

Posh’s promotion push is back on 

After a disastrous run of four defeats on the bounce in League One, Peterborough found themselves falling out of the automatic promotion places and 10 points behind second-place Derby County.  

Since then, wins against Exeter City and closest rivals in Cambridge United and Northampton Town have seen the deficit halved, with Boro having a game in hand.  

Bolton’s late 2-2 draw with Barnsley saw two of Ferguson’s challengers both drop points in the race for the two automatic promotion spaces, with the 5-1 win resulting in Posh capitalising.  

Posh can be ruthless  

In Posh’s brilliant 12 game unbeaten run over the back end of 2023 and into 2024 saw them beat an opposition by more than one goal only three times in the league.  

Ephron Mason-Clarke, Kwame Poku, Joel Randall, Hector Kyprianou and Josh Knight (pictured) all got on the scoresheet on Tuesday night. 

Ferguson’s side boasts the highest expected goals (xG) in League One with 65.8 goals expected. The stats aren’t close with leaders Portsmouth having the second highest with 61.0, before Bolton with 51.4.  

Despite the positions that the side find themselves in and the chances they create, Posh’s lack of ruthlessness have made games more stressful certainly for the fans and doesn’t help their goal difference, despite being the top scorers in the division.  

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Boss Darren Ferguson is aware of this and told ‘Posh+’ his side could have had more from the game, despite the score line.  

He said: “I still thought we should have scored more goals. At five, we could have got more. Goal difference is going to play a part though, and it’s important we got four goals back on Barnsley and Bolton.” 

However, the emphatic victory over the Cobblers on Tuesday night shows that when the side does click going forward, very few teams can stop them. They scored five against Cambridge at London Road earlier in the season.  

Thrive on the big occasions 

The Cambridgeshire-based side have made a habit of winning games that have something riding on it. Previously, Posh have struggled in front of big crowds, with results such as losing last season away at Bolton, Derby and Ipswich before being thrashed 5-0 at home to Bolton again and the famous 5-1 play-off semi-final defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.  

But this season has seen a different side. The younger approach may have hindered the opportunity of wins at more ‘intimidating’ venues, but it has had the opposite effect. Important wins at Barnsley, Blackpool, and Derby have all proved vital this season. 

Follow that up with wins against Northampton at home (5-1) and doing the double over rivals Cambridge United (5-0 &1-0) respectively, can only boost Boro’s chances.  

The Posh still must play Portsmouth and Bolton Wanderers before the season ends, and the side cannot afford any slip-ups in the race for promotion. A day at Wembley awaits the side too after defeating Blackpool for the second time at Bloomfield Road this season, so another ‘big occasion’ performance is required on April, 7 against Wycombe Wanderers.  

Momentum at the right time 

Confidence is key in the latter part of the season. Momentum is what got Peterborough into the play-offs on the last day of the season in 2023. Posh only lost two of their last 11 games to sneak in on the last day of the season.  

Sneaking into the automatic promotion spot behind Portsmouth is more of a challenging task, but a similar run is required if they are to be successful. Four wins on the bounce is a start, but the side cannot afford to slip up any points as the season ends.  

Will Posh make it into the automatic promotion places and play Championship football next season?  

Or will it be the play-offs again for Darren Ferguson’s men?