Peterborough's last league game at London Road was on 12th May and it saw them take a 4-0 lead over Sheffield Wednesday in the first leg of their play-off semi final.
Their capitulation in the second leg at Hillsborough was extraordinary. The aggregate scores were level 4-4 at 90 minutes and, despite taking the lead again in extra time, Posh were pegged back to 5-5 and subsequently lost on penalties. Manager Darren Ferguson's contract with the club was up and he said things were "too raw" for him to think about next season. However, three months on it will be Ferguson who selects the Peterborough team for Saturday in his fourth term as manager of the club.
During the summer he has strengthened his squad by signing Australian goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic and defender Romoney Crichlow from Huddersfield. The midfield is bolstered by Archie Collins from Exeter and Ryan de Havilland from Barnet. Up front Kabongo Tshimanga, who was on loan last season from Chesterfield, has signed a permanent deal. In addition Rotherham defender Peter Kioso has joined on a season-long loan. Most importantly, the club have so far retained the services of 29 goal striker Jonson Clark-Harris.
They began this season last week with a 1-0 win at Reading courtesy of a strike from new captain Ephron Mason-Clarke. In contrast to Dean Holden, Ferguson made only two changes to his starting eleven for their home EFL cup tie against Swindon on Tuesday. His team scraped through on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
It was November 2010 when we last won in the league at Peterborough. It was hardly our strongest team ever - it included Gary Doherty, Joe Anyinsah and Paul Benson - but we won 5-1 with Johnnie Jackson and Lee Martin scoring two each. Since then we have lost three and drawn three, although we do also have the 4-1 EFL cup win with Ahmed Kashi's wonder goal to relish.
There are injury doubts over Tyreece Campbell, Scott Fraser and Nathan Asiimwe ahead of the weekend but leading scorer George Dobson, striker Alfie May and fleet-footed Corey Blackett-Taylor will surely return after being rested from the starting eleven on Tuesday. Dean Holden was cagey about injuries at his press conference on Thursday:
“In the last couple of games we’ve picked up some knocks and niggles which we’re still assessing and will continue to do so right up until kick-off. We go there with high hopes on Saturday.”
There is every reason to travel with hope of at least a point and, with the weather forecast predicting temperatures of 22 degrees, there should be no repeat of last season's late postponement.
The bookmakers currently believe that Peterborough will finish fourth and that Charlton will miss out on the play-offs by coming seventh. An away win might go some way to reversing the odds.
We are very grateful to Kyle Andrews for his superb picture of George Dobson celebrating his goal last Saturday.