Posh v Sheff Weds 27/4/13 - 5.20pm

[Milo (not Mylo!!)]

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[Milo (not Mylo!!)]

Squeaky bum time for Posh's cup final. A win is a must IMO and 54 points may not be enough, unbelievable!

[Deleted]

Apr 26, 2013 8:12:17 GMT Milo (not Mylo!!) said:

Squeaky bum time for Posh's cup final. A win is a must IMO and 54 points may not be enough, unbelievable!

Looking forward to it, big time.

[Milo (not Mylo!!)]

Posh 1, Sheffield Wednesday 0: Hopefully there will be cardiologists, paramedics and at least a couple of counsellors among the 2,500 Peterborough United fans travelling to Selhurst Park for D-Day next Saturday (May 4).

Posh fans will either be celebrating one of the greatest escapes from relegation of all time, or they will be distraught at the prospect of a team showing tremendous resilience, heart and character dropping into League One with a near-record number of points. Either way, tension and excitement will be the order of the afternoon. Posh are pretty much entering unchartered territory as other battles against relegation in the club’s history have usually been conceded about Easter-time. It was almost a Christmas concession for the current squad. The seven straight beatings at the start of the season is oft-quoted when discussing the Posh plight, but the outlook was even more dire as 16 of the first 21 Championship matches were lost. Who then, could have anticipated seeing Posh on 54 points with a game to go, their destiny still in their own hands? Darren Ferguson and Darragh MacAnthony for sure, and the former made his players believe, followed by the fans, and now even crusty old cynics in the press box have been won over, more because of victories like this one than because of occasional displays of beautiful flowing football.

The Championship demands teams to be strong and brave and Sheffield Wednesday demand it more than most. Wednesday, recently the club of Di Canio and Carbone, are now an ugly, horrible side built to overpower opponents rather than outplay them. - true

Playing gnarled old (and very slow) veteran Steve Howard up front rather than Leroy Lita made no secret of what was about to hit Posh. A succession of long, high balls designed to win set-pieces. It’s primitive stuff, but in conditions (strong wind, bumpy pitch) to suit, it was a threat that needed quelling by strong men. Thankfully in man-of-the-match Michael Bostwick and Gaby Zakuani, Posh have their toughest, most durable centre-back pairing since the days of Chris Turner and Ian Ross in the late 1970s. How Posh great Turner would have loved watching Bostwick - in his first game for a month - and Zakuani get a head on balls often aimed at basketball-player-sized opponents. The sight of both centre-backs throwing themselves in the way of a close-range Giles Coke drive towards the end of a desperately-poor first-half was a statement of complete commitment to the cause. Posh laboured in that first period. They played too slowly, carried out their habit of square and backwards passes to an obsessive degree and became involved in a stop-start encounter which is completely alien to their own beliefs. There were still pockets of hope, most noticably when a slip halted Dwight Gayle’s attempt to complete the good work of Alex Pritchard and Lee Tomlin and when Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was just denied a headed open goal by a last-ditch clearance following Gayle’s clever lob. There was nothing in the game as both managers admitted afterwards. Wednesday boss Dave Jones then went on to claim Posh had a little bit of luck to win the points which was a rather ungracious way to describe a goal of sheer genius. A foul on Alex Pritchard - the little on-loan Spurs winger was surprisingly given a full debut in a 4-4-2 formation - just past the hour mark gave Posh a free kick on the corner of the penalty area, a similar position from where Grant McCann put the final gloss on the League One play-off final at Old Trafford a little under two years ago. McCann went for the opposite side of the goal this time and struck it, as well as aimed it, to perfection, the ball striking the inside of the post before nestling in the net. That left 30 minutes for Posh to repel Wednesday’s inevitable surge, while attempting to strike a killer second goal on the break. They did the former better than the latter, although Tomlin did force visiting ‘keeper Chris Kirkland into one fine save. Wednesday created just two clear-cut opportunities, one when substitute Lita forced a fine save from Bobby Olejnik and another from an injury-time corner that was poorly headed at the back-post by Miguel Llera. It was far from vintage Posh. For all Pritchard’s promise and energy, Posh don’t have wingers who perform consistently well enough to play 4-4-2 effectively and there was rarely therefore any fluency to the attacking play. But heart and commitment are equally valuable tools at this stage of the season and Posh were not found lacking in those departments. Certainly the pitch invasion from the Posh fans in the highest London Road attendance of the season suggested they were happy with what they’ve witnessed in the second-half of the campaign, although the celebrations which involved carrying Zakuani off the pitch were a bit weird considering Posh are outside the relegation zone only on goal difference with one very tough match to play.

Posh: Bobby Olejnik, Craig Alcock, Tommy Rowe, Michael Bostwick, Gaby Zakuani, Jack Payne, Grant McCann (sub Kane Ferdinand 85 mins), Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (sub Joe Newell, 83 mins), Alex Pritchard (sub Tyrone Barnett, 84 mins), Lee Tomlin, Dwight Gayle. Unused substitutes: Joe Day, Shaun Brisley, Shaq McDonald, Kgosi Ntlhe.

Sheff Wed: Chris Kirkland, Lewis Buxton, Jeremy Helan (sub Leroy Lita, 68 mins) , Miguel Llera, Anthony Gardner, Giles Coke, Rhys McCabe (sub Kieran Lee, 46 mins), Danny Pugh, Seyi Olofinjana, Steve Howard (sub, Gary Madine, 74 mins), Chris Maguire. Unused substitutes: Martin Taylor, Joe Mattock, Stephen Bywater, Jose Semedo,

Goal: Posh - McCann (64 mins).

Attendance: 13,938

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