Peterborough United welcome Derby County to Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday in a huge fixture for the League One playoff race. Both sides have lost two of their last 5 games and the Posh find themselves just four points off the playoff spots with a game in hand on 6th place Bolton Wanderers.
Peterborough have won their last two games by 3 goal margins, ending Lincoln City’s unbeaten home season with a 0-3 win last weekend after beating Burton Albion 2-5 at the Pirelli Stadium the previous Tuesday but were beaten by the same margin in their last home game where they went down 0-3 to Cheltenham Town. They will be hoping to take the form shown on their last two away trips and bring it home to Cambridgeshire to close the gap on those spots for the end of season lottery.
Paul Warne takes his Derby County side to face Darren Ferguson’s men after overseeing just 4 wins in the 10 league games since exiting the FA Cup at home to West Ham United at the end of January. This inconsistent form means that the Rams are in what looks like a four way battle for the final two playoff positions and he will know a win against this weekend’s opponents will open up a 7 point gap between the sides with only 8 games remaining.
The last three meeting between these sides have been settled by goals scored no earlier than the 88th minute. Last time out, County needed the 88th minute equaliser and a 91st minute winner and Peterborough’s last win came courtesy of goals in the 91st and 99th minutes.
Players to Watch
Jonson Clarke-Harris (Peterborough United)
I recently did a piece looking at expected goals and the frontman’s return was exceptional. Not only does he have 22 goals to his name but he only needs a sniff to find the net, scoring 7 more goals than expected from the chances he has had. He is in good form at present with 5 goals in his last 7 games.
David McGoldrick (Derby County)
The 35-year-old Irish international started the defeat to Fleetwood on the bench and will be hoping to get back into the starting XI this weekend and continue his run of 6 goals and 2 assists in his last 9 starts and to consolidate his side’s playoff berth.
Podcaster Opinions
For some fan opinion on this game, I got the views of @NigelOwen77 who is a member Black and White Together (@dcfcbawt), a supporter group dedicated to Derby County Football Club. I asked Nigel how he saw the match going, the dangermen to look out for and what the result could mean to his side’s season.
This is definitely our biggest game of the season so far. Win today and we can almost write off Peterborough’s chances of catching us, but lose and they’re right there in the mix. Given we’ve been on a mixed run lately, it’s perhaps more hope than expectation that 3800 of us will be travelling to Peterborough.
David McGoldrick missed our trip to Oxford and only came back on the bench last week. As opposition managers have said, he’s too good for this division so having him back in the starting line-up today will be huge. For Peterborough, Jonson Clarke-Harris is proving yet again that he knows how to score in this division. We’ve conceded too many goals of late, so if we can find our defensive strength from earlier in the season and keep him quiet, that will give us a much better chance.
Both sides and managers like to win games by scoring goals, rather than defending and trying to nick a 1-0 so I think it could be a roller coaster of emotion this afternoon with plenty of goals. With that hope I mentioned earlier, I’ll go for a Derby win by the odd goal in five.
Sounds like it’s going to be a cracking game!
Head-to-Head
Last 5: Peterborough 2 wins, Derby 3 wins
Saturday 27th August 2022 – Derby County 2-1 Peterborough United
Saturday 19th February 2022 – Derby County 1-0 Peterborough United
Saturday 14th August 2021 – Peterborough United 2-1 Derby County
The Managers
Darren Ferguson (Peterborough United)
The Scotsman agreed to return to the Posh for his fourth spell in charge in January and has got the club into a position to challenge for the playoffs. Ferguson has guided Peterborough to four promotions across his spells in charge, including three to the Championship, and a Football League Trophy and has also won promotion to League One with Doncaster Rovers so it is safe to say that the Posh manager knows his way around the lower levels of English league football.
Speaking ahead of the match, Ferguson played down the significance of the game and the potential sell-out crowd, reminding supporters that it’s just another game and the pints against derby count the same as against anyone else. “It is a game we can look forward to as we have put ourselves in a position where we can reduce the gap to one which is the closest we have been,” he said when speaking to the media on Thursday – courtesy of the club’s twitter account @theposh – he went on to say, “We can’t afford too many more slip ups and we have to try and take advantage of the fact we are playing a team directly above us.”
Paul Warne (Derby County)
Warne is another manager who has enjoyed success at this level, earning 3 promotions to the Championship and a Football League Trophy with Rotherham United before being appointed Deby County manager in September 2022. He will be looking to add another promotion to his CV this season with the Rams but first needs his side to find some consistency and secure themselves a spot in the playoffs.
Speaking to the media himself ahead of this weekend’s game, Warne was keen to move on from last Saturday’s home defeat to Fleetwood Town, saying, “You have to feel hurt with the performance, the performance killed me at the weekend, but you just have to move on really quick. We’ve got 8 or 9 games, potentially more to put it right.” Courtesy of @dcfcofficial
