Peterborough United manager Steve Evans has praised the support from the fans this season, and is feeling optimistic ahead of this weekend’s match against promotion hopefuls Barnsley.
League One’s top scorers Peterborough United come into this weekend’s game against Barnsley on the back of a 2-2 draw against Sunderland on Tuesday night, as former Newcastle United striker Ivan Toney scored an 84th minute equaliser against 10-man Sunderland after Bryan Oviedo’s red card.
Despite remaining unbeaten away and in 2nd place in League One – three points behind leaders Portsmouth – Posh have not won at home in three matches, and will need to amend their home form if they want to stage a serious fight for promotion this season.
Manager Steve Evans told the Peterborough Telegraph:
“We’ve played a lot of top sides lately and we’ve only lost a very tight game to a very good Portsmouth side who are top of the league.”
Evans was full of praise for Barnsley – who will be in the fight for promotion to the Championship this season.
“And we have another big game tomorrow against a team who are certain to be there or thereabouts at the top at the end of the season.
“Barnsley have lost just one player from last season’s Championship squad and he has been replaced. They are a good side with a terrific fanbase who will give them great support tomorrow.
“But we are also a good side with great support. We have delivered some superb displays this season and scored some quality goals. This is a great time to be a Posh fan. When I was driving out of the city on Saturdays to manage other clubs I would also want to be at the ABAX for a game like this.”
Despite the fact his side have not won in three home games, Evans is remaining confident about this weekend’s match and wants to to send the Posh fans home happy.
“I’m not obsessing about our home form. In May if we are celebrating promotion no-one will care where we picked up our points. I’d rather we picked up most points at home purely because we want to send 6-7,000 of our fans home from a game happy, but my Rotherham team that went up from this division won 14 away games and only 10 at home.
“I do know that if we replicate the second-half display at Sunderland for 80-90 minutes in many other games this season we will be a Championship club at the end of the season.
“What I saw in that game was a load of good individual players working hard for the team. That is a winning recipe in any team. There was probably a time when a point away from home at a huge club like Sunderland would have prompted handshakes and fist pumps all round, but the players were subdued after the game. They thought we should have won and they were right.
“It just goes to show the belief we have in the camp.
“I’m really not bothered about how many goals we let in either, as long as we score more than the opposition. I’d rather win 5-4 than 1-0.
“Over 25% of the league games will have been played after this weekend so the table will have taken shape. We’ve had an excellent start and now we need the same in the middle part of the season followed by an outstanding finish.”
