|
· See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams
· All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats
Full record against Peterborough
FA CUP
SEASON RD H/A RES SCORER(S)
93-94 3 A 1-1 Dozzell
93-94 3R H 1-1 Barmby
Spurs won on penalties 5-4
LEAGUE CUP
68-69 4 H 1-0 Greaves
Renewing an old acquaintance
Spurs have never met Peterborough in League competition. This is hardly surprising because "The Posh" were elected to the Football League in 1960. Their best years have been the current season, and previously 1992-94, which were their only years in second tier football. Spurs' one season in Divsion Two in 77-78 therefore did not co-incide with the presence of Peterborough.
Peterborough's best league season was in 92-93, when they finished 10th in Division Two.
After their election, Peterborough soon made it to Division Three, and whilst at that level, they had their best years in both the main cup competitions, reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals in 1965, and The League Cup semi-final in 1966.
Peterborough were promoted as the second team in League One last season, but have struggled in the Championship, where they hold up the league table. Their fans saw a sensational come-back on Monday though. "Posh" were 4-0 down at half-time to Cardiff, who are in fourth place battling for the automatic promotion places. Peterborough's come back was only cemented in added time by Josh Simpson's second goal, after former Spur Charlie Lee and skipper George Boyd had also got on the score-sheet.
Simpson is on loan from non-league Histon, and had only made two brief substitute appearances for Peterborough, before new manager Mark Cooper decided to give him a try at half-time reaping a great reward for the team and individual. Cooper, who is the son of former Leeds and England star Terry Cooper, knows a bit about the Conference, as he was previously at Kettering. In accepting the appointment at London Road, Cooper missed out on the chance to manage his team against his Dad's old team in the second round of this year's FA Cup competition.
Peterborough have had some memorable days this season, beating Reading, Newcastle and Watfod at home, and winning 4-0 at Wycombe in the first round of the league cup. They are currently five points off the safety zone, but they won't be giving up. They have a few goals in the side, with Boyd leading their chart and strikers Craig Mackail-Smith and Aaron McLean not far behind.
George Boyd is an exciting attacking player, appearing on the left or right wing, but also as a striker on occasions. Spurs will have to watch him closely. Boyd started his career at Conference side Stevenage, where he excelled and was signed for £250,000 by Peterborough.
Charlie Lee ended his time at Spurs as the inspirational Captain of the Reserve team, but never quite made it to the first team. He moved to Peterborough in the summer of 2007, and has had great success, where he continues to play either in defence or midfield. Charlie is a determined ball-winner and a good passer of the ball, who will relish another chance to play at The Lane, where he has played with the Youth Cup team.
Charlie has already played against his old team, as the clubs met this pre-season when Spurs won 4-0, with goals from Darren Bent, Defoe, Modric and Pavlyuchenko. This was Darren Bent's last Spurs goal before his departure to Sunderland.
Spurs have had a good relationship with "The Posh" down the years, not least when we signed Matty Etherington and Simon Davies in 1999-2000. I remember bumping into Barry Fry in the Spurs club shop on a day when Spurs played an early afternoon mid-week reserve game. Barry had come to watch his former proteges play and was very enthusiastic about their prospects. Whilst they have left Spurs, they are of course still performing in the Premier League.
Lee, Etherington and Davies are recent players to have played for both these teams, but the first in a list of some 20 names was wing-back Jim Iley, who played over 50 games for Spurs in the fifties, and 68 for Peterborough in the late sixties, after enjoying great popularity at Newcastle. Iley became manager of Peterborough after retiring as a player.
As you can see above, we have only met in two Cup Ties down the years. It took a Jimmy Greaves goal to get us past Peterborough in the 1968 league cup game, and in January 1994, we only managed to draw away and in the replay at home. Jason Dozzell had scored the Spurs goal at London Road, and Nicky Barmby scored our home goal. It took a tense penalty shoot-out to decide the issue, and we scraped through by 5-4. We didn't get much further in a dismal season, losing 3-0 in the next round at Ipswich. That was the season where only a 2-0 win in our penultimate game at Oldham ensured Premiership survival.
There has been no team news, except for a rumour that Aaron Lennon will be out with a groin tear for up to a month, and the news report that Benoit Assou-Ekotto has pulled out of the African Cup of Nations, also with a groin injury. I wouldn't expect either of them to start in what will probably be a Spurs "FA Cup team", as Gareth Bale should start for Ekotto anyway, and squad players that are fit (such as Giovani and Danny Rose) may get a game. Whichever Spurs players are selected should be abale to deal with Peterborough, and I would anticipate a comfortable win.
I wish all readers a Happy, healthy and prosperous new year!
Top of page | Index to 2009-10 Match Reports
| 
