Will home comforts keep Posh in the automatic promotion picture?

In a week where Anfield’s status was tarnished once again, the Western Homes Stadium retained its ‘tough place to go’ reputation.

But the Posh cannot rely on home form alone if they wish to play Championship football next season.

While Darren Ferguson prepares his team to face Ipswich Town at home on Tuesday evening, the Peterborough United boss will have one question at the front of his mind: why are they so good at home but so poor on the road?

Since returning to the club for the third time in 2019, Ferguson has transformed London Road into a somewhat of a fortress – losing three times in 29 home League One matches (P29 W21 D5 L3 GF68 GA22 68 PTS).

Boasting the best home form in the division this season, Peterborough lost just one league game at home in 2020 (a 2-1 defeat to Blackpool in November) with no other team dropping fewer than eight points. 

That’s without taking into account the condition of the playing surface, which was swamped following a series of water pipes bursting underneath the pitch.

Yet on their travels, it is as if the Scotsman is managing two different teams. The one that shows up at the Weston Homes Stadium is usually fearless and full of imagination but the one that pitches up elsewhere often appears timid and uninspired.

In theory, Ferguson’s side should be well suited to playing away from home. The back three comprised of the well-versed Mark Beevers, Nathan Thompson and Frankie Kent are an impressive unit that is only toughed by goalkeeper Christy Pym, who has kept 24 clean sheets in 60 appearances.

Completed by the pace and precision of Siriki Dembele, Sammie Szmodics, Jonson Clarke-Harris, Joe Ward and Indris Kanu going forward, they should be well-adapted to absorbing the pressure and catching their opponents out on the break –  just like they did to win 2-0 at home against Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.

Sitting fourth in the table, the Posh have proven they are worthy contenders for automatic promotion and even the title, but unless they can transfer their home form to away games the Play-Offs might be the best they can do.

Ironically, the last time Peterborough won away from home was against upcoming opponents Ipswich back in December. The victory was far from convincing, however, Mark McGuinness’ comical own goal 20 minutes from time handed the Posh all three-points without managing a single shot on target.

But the Tractor Boys who lost on that day are different from those who will be travelling up to Cambridgeshire on Tuesday after an injection of youth in January has seen Paul Lambert’s team be rejuvenated.

Ipswich’s 2-0 win over Blackpool at the weekend ended a run of three successive home losses with highly-rated Premier League loanees Luke Matheson and Troy Parrott breathing a breath of fresh air into a stale and stuttering squad.

Though the task in hand for Lambert’s men this match week is a tricky one, not only will they have to battle one of the best home defences in the division, but with a pitch that has more bumps that a cobbled street.

As the post-waterpipes-bursting form shows, the incident has been more of a blessing than a curse for the Posh and they have adapted superbly.

The surface at Anfield may be polar opposites yet the record the Posh currently possess is far more intimidating. Nevertheless, it will prove pointless if they do not pick up more points away from PE1.

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