LondonRoad.net

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Posh pulled off a Herculean effort to clear the pitch of snow today - and it paid off, as goals from Lee Frecklington and Exodus Geohaghan saw off struggling Watford. Both assists came from George Boyd, who was otherwise below-par. Aaron McLean looked like his transfer request had lifted a huge weight off his shoulders and, along with Hornets fan Craig Mackail-Smith, put in a vintage display of effort, hassling Watford defenders at every opportunity. Now, anyone fancy three points at West Brom on Boxing Day?

A topsy-turvy game at the Ricoh saw Posh slump to another defeat.

Below is a word cloud showing the words most commonly used in the reports of the dotnetters who were at the game.

Attention doom-mongers - the word 'good' is prominent. See, it's not all bad.

Ex Factor

Love him or hate him – and the big man has divided opinion already - but Exodus Geohaghan played a huge part in both of Posh’s goals today. The opener came from his long throw, which was blocked after a flick-on, but then volleyed in by the impressive Chris Whelpdale. The second - right at the death, was from his long pass, latched on to and cut back by Craig Mackail-Smith and tapped in by Aaron McLean. Unfortunately, between those two goals, Swansea’s Lee Trundle scored two of his own. McLean’s late leveller though, was deserved, despite a poor first half performance. On Tuesday we’re off to Ipswich in what is already being billed as a relegation battle six-pointer.

Our award-winning photographer captured Batt's wonder goal

Hands up who got a bit excited when new boy Exodus unleashed his first long throw? And hands up who was fed up with them by the fourth or fifth… A spirited fightback against a lacklustre Middlesbrough team saw Posh register their first league point of the Mark Cooper era. Posh had to twice come from behind, after goals from former Cambridge redhead Dave Kitson. The first equaliser was a calm finish from captain George Boyd after a lovely dinked ball from left back Scott Griffiths. The second was a stupendous dipping volley from Shaun ‘Battigol’ Batt. A fair result, we’d say, but what do we know? Tell us what you thought of the match on our forums. Did you boo Sean St Ledger? Would you have put Craig Morgan on the bench? Who was your man of the match? For us, it was Paul Kell.

Oh, so that's what he looks like

In the last few minutes, sources have revealed to londonroad.net that the new manager of Peterborough United will be Mark Cooper.

Cooper will be officially unveiled on Sunday, after he has taken charge of his final game as manager of Kettering, against Cambridge Utd on Saturday.

Everyone at londonroad.net wishes Mark all the best in his new job.

This is obviously just a joke and not intended to be taken seriously by anyone, anywhere.

Sky Sports is reporting that Barry Fry claims Fergie has a new job lined up, while Fergie has denied any such rumours.
However, it cannot be denied that there have been strong rumours about the Hull City job for a few days now.
We may never know what happened, so the following is pure speculation based on snippets of quotes from Darragh, Fergie and Fry.
It could be that, on Sunday, while Darragh was in Spain, Fergie told Fry he either wanted to leave, or that a club had made him an offer. There then followed two days of legal wrangling, during which time, The Sun published its exclusive, making Fergie’s position untenable.
Strangely, despite Darragh making it clear that a lot of the goings-on had to remain private for legal reasons, it is reported that Fry has divulged some of those goings-on to the media.
If it was true that Ferguson had a new job lined up at a Premier League club, neither the club involved, that club’s current manager, or Posh’s lawyers - presumably, would be happy to hear of it via a streaming news ticker on Sky Sports.
Meanwhile, Steve Cotterill has emerged as a rival to Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe in the race to replace Fergie.
Keep up to date with the latest on our forums.

Darragh arrives for the press conference. Photo by Steve Turner

So, it’s official. Darren Ferguson has left ‘by mutual consent’ and, today, his assistant Kevin Russell has resigned.

Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe has emerged as the front-runner to replace him, despite apparently saying ‘thanks, but no thanks’.

Oxford’s Chris Wilder and currently unemployed Peter Taylor have also been mentioned.

In today’s press conference (Weds, Nov 11) Darragh MacAnthony said the parting was mutual, that it was the right thing for the club and that we had to look to the future.

Barry Fry gargled something about being bottom of the league and used the word ‘money’ 418 times in three minutes.

There’s no indication yet, as to when an appointment will be made, or who is running the show until then.

UPDATE: Steve Cotterill is said to be at the ground. DMac also told Sky he had a shortlist of nine names - which did not include Wilder or Coppell.

Meanwhile, Fry let slip that Ferguson may well have a new job lined up. Hull, then…

Apologies for the downtime we’ve had. We are still actively seeking a move to a new server, so please bear with us during busy times.

Keep it Posh

Mark Robins

Bleurgh. So, in a nutshell, since our last update (apologies for the sloppiness, it would never have happened in mylo’s day) we’ve won a game and kept a clean sheet, lost two league games, drawn one and been knocked out of the Carling Cup at Ewood Park. We forgot to mention the following things: Ryan Bennett, Scott Griffiths, Swine Flu, Ben Amos, Marco Cereste, Gillian Beasley, letters to councillors, Colin Hill, Elliot Omozusi, James McKeown, Histon, Lanre Oyebanjo, Fant-Tastic Telecom, Jamie Day’s contract, Fergie Out, Fergie In, beach balls, Andy Dibble and Darren Ward.

Now we’re all up to speed, how about today’s game? Well, we looked pretty handy up until the game resumed following George Boyd’s penalty. Then it all went tit-shaped and for all our huffing (hoofing?) and puffing (poofing? No, puffing) we got nowhere and rarely threatened Luke Steele - who got a thoroughly undeserved hostile reception from some sections of the London Road End.

What have we learned? Nothing we didn’t know already. We need a third, and probably fourth, striker in the squad. Batt’s just not good enough. Danny Rose must have some dirt on Harry Redknapp  to still be in the Spurs squad, we need a new right back, the defence is disorganised and sloppy, Pearce may as well not be here, Morgan’s having a nightmare of a season, the midfield just ain’t right, we really miss CMS when he’s not there and to compete in this division you need to throw some money at quality players.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, I’m sure we can take something from the next three games. Now, let’s see, who have we got?

Awww, bum.

It’s going to be a long, cold, lonely winter, folks.

Billy. What kind of a name is that for a grown man?

This is starting to get depressing now. Another defeat, another poor performance, another weekend ruined. To sum up the game as quickly as possible: Woeful, windy first half, poor passing, no movement, Joe Lewis knocked silly and replaced by James McKeown, Paul Coutts clobbered and replaced by Lee Frecklington. Half time. Second half: GOAL! Aaron McLean heads in brilliantly from a Tommy Williams corner. “Hooray,” we all shout. “Perhaps today we can win. Perhaps this can be the turning point, perhaps… oh bollocks they’ve equalised.” Freak goal, blame the wind, blame McKeown, blame the laws of physics, blame whatever you want, but it’s 1-1 and Posh need to react in a positive manner. Scrub that, it’s 1-2 and Posh heads have dropped. Have no fear though, from our bench containing a goalkeeper, centre half, two midfielders and three wingers, Ferguson is going to give Forest something to think about by bringing on skillful Tottenham lad Danny Rose. He looked half decent on Tuesday, seems to have grown a bit though… Oh crap it’s Shaun Batt.

So, where do we go from here? Have your say on our London Road End forum.

A load of old Sturrocks

OK, something’s wrong. If you think the result is bad, you should have seen the performance.

Posh, who were poor in a 2-0 defeat at Blackpool on Saturday made big - and bizarre - changes to the starting line-up, resulting in a dire, goal-free first half. Jamie Day replaced Tom Williams at left back, Charlie Lee (who earlier in the day we were told was still injured) replaced Gabriel Zakuani (who wasn’t even on the bench) and new loanee Danny Rose started in a three-man midfield with Dave and Lee Frecklington.

The second half turned in bottom-side Plymouth’s favour when Day was on the end of a crunching tackle, which looked for all the world like a penalty, and had to be stretchered off. No sooner had Williams come on in his place than Plymouth took the lead. They soon doubled it and Posh’s only response was to bring on Shaun Batt and replace the struggling Lee with Krystian Pearce.

Craig Mackail-Smith pulled one back very late on, but Posh’s overall lack of creativity, poor crossing and misplaced passes meant they deserved to lose.

Prior to the match, the crowd applauded the late Terry Bly, the spearhead of a Posh side that had such success in their debut league season. Now, as the current crop of players step up to a higher level, things are looking very different.

Defeat on Saturday at home to Forest will leave Posh floundering, but in reality we already are.

So, what’s the answer? Do we need new players? A new manager? Or are you confident it will all come together? Have your say on our forums.