Bradford City (H) : Key Takeaways

Posh drew 1-1 at home in the fifth league game of a so far winless season. 

Photo Credit : Darren Wiles

Posh are trending upwards

I use that word ‘trend’ intentionally. 

Not every element of every performance has been better than the last. In fact, Posh were very good in the first half of the opening game against Cardiff.

But if I had to summarise the five performances, I would say the worst was Wigan and the best was Bradford.

Posh have, after three very tough openers, put in back-to-back strong performances at home, even if they only have a point to show for it. 

Against Bradford, we saw a progress towards true ‘Fergie-ball’, with aggressive full-back play, wing trickery, and midfield finesse (at least, more consistently than we have in the other games).

Why, then, do Posh remain bottom of the league? Well…

Posh are riding their luck too often

Brandon Khela, who was having a great game up until the goal, got caught in possession and in a flash Posh were 0-1 down.

But this was only one of several errors that on another day would have been punished.

In the first half Nevett swung wildly with his right foot, putting Okagbue under pressure, where he was promptly disposed on the edge of our box.

Not long after Khela’s error, Collins was trapped by the Bradford midfield press in identical circumstances, thankfully without the same result.

While every team makes errors every game, the kind Posh are making are severe, and are enough to undo good work in the rest of the match.

Attacking subs to the rescue

In the opposite of Tuesday night against Barnsley, the subs led Posh to a much deserved point.

• Garbett was intelligent, composed, and tricky enough to win multiple fouls. Not perfect, but he immediately showed quality. 

• Frith might be the most agile player Posh have ever had. His change-of-direction is like a video game, as is his responsiveness.

• Hayes took his chance, storming past the Bradford defender to latch onto Frith’s toe-poke cross.

Final thoughts

Posh have a lot of reasons to be hopeful. As each week passes, Posh come closer to having a full strength side with new signings match-fit and/or returned from injury.

Let’s hope they can build on this in the short-term against Exeter next week.