Carlisle United boss Paul Simpson has been incredibly complimentary of Peterborough United’s style of play ahead of the clash at London Road on Good Friday.
Barring a complete miracle, the Cumbrians will be playing in League Two next season, sat a whole 15 points off of safety with just seven games to play. The game could however be a banana skin for Peterborough though, especially after an improved performance by Carlisle last weekend to draw 2-2 with play-off chasers Stevenage.
On the other hand, Darren Ferguson’s side still have everything to play for, and retain a chance of automatic promotion. Posh currently sit in fourth, seven points off of Derby County in second. Significantly, they do have two games in hand on the Rams and if making use of those, then they could well be in with a chance of automatic promotion to the Championship.
It isn’t yet a certainty that they’ll be in the play-offs this season but it looks highly unlikely that they’ll be dislodged from the top six. The focus is however on the present, something that Ferguson will be reminding his players this week prior to their EFL Trophy Final against Wycombe Wanderers next weekend which may already be in their mind.
In the return fixture against Friday’s opposition in October, the spoils would be shared. Posh dominated for the majority of the game and Carlisle’s only shot on target, an added time Jordan Gibson strike, would find the back of the net.
Peterborough’s strong attack was on display that day but perhaps not quite firing on all cylinders to truly punish their opposition. Nonetheless, the Cumbrians’ boss was still extremely complimentary when looking back at the game.
Speaking to the News & Star ahead of Friday’s game, Simpson would go onto say.
“I hope that we can go perform like we did for the bulk of the [Stevenage] game [on Saturday] and make it a real good game.
“I have to say for 20 or 30 minutes of the game here, Peterborough were by far the best team we’ve faced, with the pace that they were able to move the ball. They were one hell of a side. It took us to half-time to regroup and reset. And then we managed to get a draw out of the game.
“But we know that we’re going to be in for a tough game at Peterborough and we’ve just got to make sure we’re ready for it.”
With Peterborough having statistically the best attack in the division and Carlisle having the worst defence in the division, Posh’s attacking arsenal are expected to be on show. This time they’ll be wanting to put the game to bed a lot earlier.
Writer’s View
At their best, this should be a fairly routine win for Peterborough, however we know football is incredibly unpredictable. They certainly have the assets to punish their opponents, just everything does need to click.
They’ll be slightly wary of the improved Carlisle performance against Stevenage but there is no guarantee that the performance will be backed up, something that can be said for the majority of the season.
Complacency cannot kick in for Posh though, who still need to take this game seriously, especially if they want to remain in contention for automatic promotion.
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