By Jordan Bailey-Smith
Fourth place, three points off automatic promotion, the division's top goalscorer, and with just five games to play it's looking all good for us right now, but the big question on every Posh fan's mind is, if we do gain promotion, can we survive in the Championship?
After drawing away to Huddersfield in our last game, we showed that we can compete with the top teams in our division who are also chasing promotion. Had it not been for a last gasp equaliser for the home side then we would have ended the Terriers' 19 game unbeaten run, now 20 games.
Brighton have secured promotion to the Championship with an astonishing campaign, however ours has not been too disimilar, and although we lost to Brighton both home and away we boast the great record of having scored the most home goals of any side in the whole of the Football League.
So why is it we are only currently in fourth place? The problem seems to be the amount of goals our defence has leaked at London Road, which currently stands at 37. Although we have only lost three games at home, our record for conceding goals is far worse than any of our nearest promotion rivals. Brighton, Southampton, Huddersfield and MK Dons have only conceded 17, 12, 16 and 19 respectively. If we were to make the Championship next season, this is definitely an issue i'm sure Darren Ferguson will be looking to rectify, if he isn't already.
Scoring goals has certainly not been a problem, if we can get just six more in our remaining five games we will reach the magic 100. Craig Mackail-Smith has been as prolific as ever, helping to gain him a cap for his country when they recently played Brazil in a friendly. George Boyd has cropped up from midfield with some great goals, as well as Grant McCann and Lee Tomlin doing likewise, helping to aid the fears that Aaron McLean's departure to Hull City would see our goal tally reduced somewhat.
Our last five games sees us up against two other play-off hopefuls, Leyton Orient and Rochdale. Both of these games are away from home and could be very tricky for us, particularly as Rochdale are only just filling the last play-off place and are a point in front of Bournemouth, who have seen a bad dip in form in the latter stages of this season.
Leyton Orient have been one of the biggest surprise packages this season, and the game at Brisbane Road could throw up some surprises, particularly as they have only lost four of their 21 games there. Something that could aid our chances in that game though is the ongoing debacle regarding the O's disaproval at West Ham United being awarded the Olympic Stadium next year. Orient bosses have joined Tottenham Hotspur in launching a legal bid against the decision, which the O's claim will have a detrimental effect on their fan base. And I'm sure I speak for most, if not all Posh fans, when I express my hopefulness that this may cause slight unrest with the Orient players.
Our other three fixtures are against teams who find themselves at the wrong end of the table, all of which will be played at London Road. The first of the three is against bottom of the table Plymouth Argyle, who look certain to be relegated.
The other two games are at home to Yeovil, as well as our last game of the campaign coming against the resurgent Dagenham & Redbridge. This could see us pick up another six points, but the Daggers will be the trickier of the two. Having recently taken the lead twice against Brighton, they almost managed to topple the leaders, going down 4-3 and keeping Brighton's unbeaten home record intact.
We have a great chance of gaining promotion, although it looks as though Southampton may grab the second automatic promotion place, they have a game in hand on the other hopefuls as well as playing three of the bottom five teams. Huddersfield and MK Dons have to play each other, so hopefully that will produce a draw, although the Dons will also be playing the bottom three, so a Huddersfield win could be more favourable for us, as they are still to play Brighton at the Withdean.
If we do make a reappearance in the Championship next season, we have a greater chance than we did last season. The back-to-back promotions took us into the second tier of English football relatively unprepared, but this time round, with Ferguson back at the helm, and having spent time managing a Championship side when he was away from London Road, he will be much more experienced and adapted to Championship football.
