Primed Posh host Charlton in playoff duel

Lee Bowyer’s Addicks travel to the Weston Homes Stadium Tuesday evening to take on an in-form Peterborough United side who have dropped just four points in nine home games in League One this season.

Darren Ferguson has transformed London Road into a fortress during his third stint in charge of Peterborough United with no other team dropping fewer than eight points at their home ground this season.

Boasting the best home form in the division, the Posh have only lost league game at home in 2020 (a 2-1 defeat to Blackpool in November) while winning 12 and drawing two – an incredible record which, if maintained, will surely see the Cambridgeshire club push for an automatic promotion place come May.

Since their four week enforced break on 15th December due to a COVID-19 outbreak, Fergie’s side have picked up a point at table-topping Lincoln City, thrashed Portsmouth 5-1 in the Papa Johns Trophy and blew-away local rivals MK Dons 3-0 at the weekend.

Despite beating the Dons, they stayed put in fifth as teams around them also won, but nonetheless, the victory saw them go six unbeaten in competitive matches and are now just three points off second-placed Hull who Posh hold a game in hand on.

On Tuesday they face sixth-placed Charlton Athletic, who will put the hosts ‘tough place to visit’ reputation to the test as they are the first team within the top ten to visit the city this season.

The Addicks also ran out victors in a 1-0 win over Bristol Rovers on Saturday afternoon thanks to a scruffy 64th minute Jake Forster-Caskey goal to earn his side their first win in six games and climb back into playoff contention. 

Lee Bowyer’s team have shown signs of improvement after a poor spell over the Christmas period and was encapsulated midweek in their remarkable 4-4 draw with 18th placed Rochdale at The Valley. 

The South-Londoners will have to continue in a similar trajectory if they wish to make it back-to-back league victories as they have not beaten their upcoming opponents, who they were supposed to face on the 29th December before the game was rescheduled, in their last five meetings (three wins, two draws).

Though Charlton will be bolstered with the return of Darren Pratley and Jason Pearce from suspension and Andrew Shinnie, who has recovered from a quad injury.

However, playmaker Marcus Maddison will miss out on a return to his former club due to his ankle injury as will Akin Famewo, Ryan Inniss and Ben Watson who are also unavailable.

Posh’s predicament lies with whether Nathan Thompson should return to the starting XI following a one-match ban for a red card against Lincoln. 

Stand-in Niall Mason impressed against the Dons and played arguably his best game in a Peterborough shirt since his arrival in the summer of 2019.

Yet there will be no debate about Sammie Szmodics involvement having struck twice – his first League One goals since the second match of the season – and rediscovered his attacking threat after a rocky start to the season.

Speaking to Posh TV ahead of the game, Szmodics said: “Charlton won at the weekend so we know their strengths, their qualities- they are a good team. There’s no shying away from that.

“We’ve got the best home form in the league and we are playing really good at the minute.”

Photo: Peterborough United

The turf at the Weston Homes Stadium has endured a battering this winter after a water pipe burst. But the pitch’s condition has not affected Posh’s play having won 4-1, 5-1 and 3-0 since the incident – something Szmodics has recognised:

“The pitch isn’t the best at the minute and we’re still playing our football; maybe the best we’ve played especially against Portsmouth so it’ll be a good footballing game against Charlton. 

“We know what they’re about but like I said it’s so tight at the top you just need to pick up as many points as you can.

We’ve got some tough games coming up with Charlton then Ipswich but we’ve sort of made our home ground a fortress at the minute and we just want to continue that.

“People don’t want to come to our stadium and play us and I think we need to keep that especially at this time of the season – that’s got to be vital for us.”

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