Posh face the omens

Friday, 27/05/2011

by Chris Harman, Shoot's Peterborough blogger

Peterborough fans are gearing up for what must surely be the biggest match in the club’s recent history.

The Posh face Huddersfield Town in Sunday’s League One showdown at Old Trafford to decide who’ll be playing Championship football next season.

Huddersfield are currently on a 27-match unbeaten run, and finished the season eight points above the Posh. Understandably then, they go into the match as favourites.

This may well work in our favour – as underdogs, we can (hopefully) relax a bit and play without fear. The pressure is more on Huddersfield to deliver.

Let’s not go thinking it’s theirs to lose though – they may have a slightly stronger all-round team, but we have the most potent strikeforce in the league. Their defenders will be nervous, that’s for sure.

And besides, the match is being played at Old Trafford, and we have a Ferguson in charge. Maybe it’s meant to be.

What a strange season it’s been for young Ferguson – sacked by Preston for steering them to the bottom of the Championship, then returning to his old club and guiding them to within touching distance of glory.

One imagines Preston fans would find it rather galling to see Ferguson back in the Championship so soon, as they begin life in League One.

Indeed, if we do go up on Sunday, there’ll naturally be question marks over Ferguson’s ability to keep us up. He has, after all, contributed to two Championship relegations in two years.

Hopefully he’ll have learnt from his mistakes and it’ll be a case of third time lucky. I’m getting ahead of myself though – we’re not there yet!

At time of writing, Posh have sold around 15,000 tickets, while Huddersfield have shifted over 31,000.

We were always going to be outnumbered – they have a bigger fanbase than us, not to mention a much easier journey to Manchester.

Admittedly though, ticket sales on our side have been disappointing.

Still, when you consider our average attendance is around 6,000, taking over double that figure is a respectable effort. It’s just that, in the past, we’ve taken more to these sorts of games.

Eleven years ago, the last time we were involved in a play-off final, around 25,000 Posh fans made the trip to Wembley. I can only assume that the significantly longer journey to Old Trafford, coupled with the ever-rising cost of watching football, has put some off this time round.

Huddersfield will surely have the edge in the singing department then, but 15,000 people can still make a lot of noise.

Posh have only good memories of the play-offs – we’ve won promotion on both previous occasions we’ve been involved in them. Who’d bet against us making it three out of three?

When you have players like Craig Mackail-Smith and George Boyd in your team, you’ve always got a chance.

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