Ipswich Town vs Peterborough United 
Saturday 23rd January 2021 – 15:00
Portman Road
Pre-Match Thoughts - Mike
A Vital Win But Far From Convincing......
Town picked up their first win of 2021 with an uninspiring single goal victory at bottom club Burton Albion last Saturday to keep them on the toes of the leading pack, somewhat surprisingly the win see's us Four points off the Second Promotion slot with a game in hand, while that may sound like a good position to be in anybody who watched the dour efforts against Burton will know we are anything but promotion candidates based on that Ninety minutes alone. The first half in particular was awful from the boys in Blue with Burton looking the more likely side to break the deadlock, chances were virtually non existent once more as we still seem hellbent on persevering with a system that clearly does not suit the personnel at our disposal.
Thankfully the Second half improved a little as we finally started to ask a few questions of the home sides rearguard, the arrival of Aaron Drinan definitely had a positive impact on proceedings as a couple of efforts from the striker saw the first hit the top of the crossbar before the home keeper made a good save to deny him once more. The goal when it did finally arrive was from an unlikely source with young defender Mark McGuinness rising above everyone around him to power a header past the helpless keeper, at the time the goal looked like being enough as Burton had faded a bit but we still had the odd scare or two to endure first before the points were safe. The key moment for me was the fabulous block from the captain just before half time that saw us going in level instead of a goal behind, it had goal written all over it but somehow the much maligned Chambers got himself in front of it to pull off a super stop.
With plenty of criticism going in Paul Lambert's direction right now I have to say that for me personally he got it spot on with the return of Tomasz Holy & Toto Nsiala at the expense of David Cornell & Luke Woolfenden, Toto grabbed his chance with both hands and put in a MOTM performance as he helped secure a much needed clean sheet, funny how we seem to get a lot more of those with Holy between the sticks. I read a lot of hogwash on social media etc about how fantastic Woolfenden is and how much of a liability Toto is, the fact Woolfy is in the "One of our Own" brigade affords him quite a bit of slack I think while on the other hand Toto is the latest scapegoat in a long line of those to have represented Town over the years, I see it completely the other way around if I am honest and I do think to myself these so called experts know absolutely nothing about what they are watching every week.
Our next outing gives us yet another chance to put One over one of our rivals at the top of the table, Peterborough United provide what will be very difficult opposition this weekend and if our record against the top dogs is anything to go by we will no doubt be in for a loss again, it has in truth become that predictable. The Posh are unbeaten in Four and have kind of got things back on track after a pretty rocky spell which saw them turn in some disappointing results, in truth their record is pretty similar to ours in that respect but I don't hear the same amount of discontent coming from the Peterborough camp.
With Thirteen goals already to his name one time Town target Johnson Clarke-Harris is most definitely the man to watch, in and around the box he is lethal and I fear our defence could be in for a really torrid afternoon if they don't keep tight on him. Dembele, Ward & Szmodics are other names well known to everyone and they bring the quality to the Posh side. I think this is going to be a tough one for Town to get all Three points but I can see us nicking something from it, with potentially Two new signings at our disposal it could well be the boost we need to put in a much improved performance, low scoring draw for me. COYB'S.
The Opposition – Peterborough United
Peterborough United formed in 1934 at Peterborough's Angel Hotel to provide a replacement for Peterborough & Fletton United, who had folded two years previously. The Posh played in the old Midland League. They won this league on six occasions, including five seasons in a row from 1956 to 1960. The Posh were elected to The Football League for the beginning of the 1960–61 season, winning Division Four.
Following the Fourth Division Championship success in 1960–61, The Posh spent seven seasons in the 3rd Division. They reached the quarter-finals of the 1964–65 FA Cup, beating Arsenal and Swansea Town along the way before going out to Chelsea. They were relegated back to the 4th Division for financial irregularities in the summer of 1968. The club took six seasons to return to Division 3, winning the 4th Division championship.
In 1977–78 the club threatened to go one better until they narrowly missed out on promotion to Division 2 when they drew the last game of the season at champions Wrexham (0–0) when a win was needed to go up. The game was notable for the fact that over 2,000 Preston North End fans travelled to Wrexham to watch the game and cheer on the home side – Preston were the club who went up because Peterborough did not win. The Wrexham defeat cast a long shadow over the club and it fell into a long decline. Relegation followed in 1979 and Posh subsequently spent 12 years back in the 4th division. The 1980s was a long story of mismanagement and false dawns, punctuated by the odd cup run.
In January 1991, Chris Turner, who had played in the 1974 Fourth division championship team took over as manager and the team embarked on a run of 13 unbeaten games that propelled them into the top four. Six players were signed on transfer deadline day, which at the time was a record for the number of players signed by one club on a single day. On the final day of the season, Posh travelled to Chesterfield needing a win to seal promotion. Despite going two goals down in the first ten minutes, the team rallied and drew level with goals from David Robinson and George Berry. However, Posh's closest rivals, Blackpool lost at Walsall and promotion was achieved.
The following season arguably remains the most successful in the club's history. After an inconsistent start the team hit form during the Autumn when they knocked Wimbledon and Newcastle United out of the League Cup. The reward was a home tie with a Liverpool. Garry Kimble scored the only goal after 19 minutes prompting wild celebrations and a place in the quarter-finals. In the league, the team went from strength to strength and surged up the table. Middlesbrough ended the League Cup run after a replay and there was further disappointment when the team missed out on a trip to Wembley in the Football League Trophy when they lost to Stoke City over two legs in the area final.
Progress continued in the league and a play-off place was clinched on the last day of the season despite a 1–0 defeat to champions Brentford. The following week, Huddersfield Town came to London Road for the first leg of the Semi-final. Captain Mick Halsall's last minute equaliser levelled the score at 2–2. Three days later, the supporters travelled north more in hope than expectation but they were rewarded when the team came from a goal down to win 2–1 with Worrell Sterling and Steve Cooper scoring the goals. On 24 May 1992, Peterborough United played at Wembley for the first time, against Stockport County in the Third Division playoff final. With Posh winning 2–1 and gaining promotion to the new First division. They played in Football League Division One between 1992 and 1994 and finished 10th, their highest ever league finish, in 1992–93 season.
During the 2005–06 season the club had three managers: Team owner Barry Fry returned to management following former England international Mark Wright's sacking in January 2006. Wright's assistant Steve Bleasdale was then appointed acting manager, but resigned in April. Keith Alexander joined as manager from Lincoln City for 2006–07 but was sacked in January 2007 after a run of poor form and was replaced by Darren Ferguson. He led the club to back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship in his two full seasons in charge. By November 2009 Posh were bottom of the Championship and Ferguson left the club, to be replaced by Mark Cooper. In February 2010, after only 13 games in charge, Cooper also left the club and Jim Gannon was appointed in his place. Following confirmation of relegation from the Championship after a 2–2 draw at Barnsley, Gannon was replaced by Gary Johnson.
Gary Johnson left the club on 10 January 2011 due to policy disagreement. Two days after Johnson's departure, Darren Ferguson returned to the club on a four and a half-year contract. Peterborough finally finished 4th in 2010-11 Football League One with one of the worst defensive records in the third tier, conceding over 70 goals, but scoring 106; the most for anybody in the Football League that season. Peterborough beat Milton Keynes Dons in the playoff semi-finals. They defeated Huddersfield Town in the Final with a 3–0 victory, and gained promotion back to the Championship.
Darren Ferguson led the team to safety in its first season back in the Championship, leading to a finish in 18th. However, the Posh were relegated back the following season, after losing to Crystal Palace 3–2 on 4 May 2013, the final match of the season.
Darren Ferguson ended his time as Peterborough United manager on 21 February 2015, following a 3–0 defeat at Milton Keynes Dons.
Over the proceeding League 1 seasons Peterborough finished 9th in the 2014/15 season, 13th in the 2015/16 season, 11th in the 2016/17 season, 9th in the 2017/18 season and 7th last season.
Ferguson was re-appointed as manager on 26 January 2019 for the third time with a deal agreed until the end of season after the dismissal of Steve Evans, with Gavin Strachan as his assistant.
Last season in the shortened Covid 19 season the Posh finished in 7th place.
The Manager – Darren Ferguson
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – currently in 7th place with 35 points
26 Dec Ipswich Town pp. Northampton
29 Dec AFC Wimbledon pp. Ipswich Town
04 Jan Fleetwood Town pp. Ipswich Town
09 Jan Ipswich Town 2-3 Swindon Town
16 Jan Burton Albion 0-1 Ipswich Town
Peterborough United Last 5 Matches – currently in 5th place with 36 points
12 Dec Peterborough 4 - 1 Rochdale
15 Dec Milton Keynes 1 - 1 Peterborough
2 Jan Peterborough pp. Doncaster
9 Jan Lincoln City 1 - 1 Peterborough
16 Jan Peterborough 3 - 0 Milton Keynes
Match Referee – Anthony Coggins
IPSWICH TOWN 1 PETERBOROUGH UNITED 1
). I am applying M69's approach in that teams like Burton get men behind the ball in numbers, Peterborough certainly will not, giving us some space. With the new guy along with Edwards, Bishop, Downes and Norwood on form we 
).
...good shout
