'OUR SECRET? WE JUST GIVE THE BALL TO ACE KWAME!

AT THE back, it is fair to say that Peterborough United have room for improvement. Clean sheets are like hen's teeth at London Road.

- Chris Dunlavy

But going forward? That's a whole different story. Last weekend's 6-1 destruction of local rivals Cambridge United marked the third time this season that Darren Ferguson's side have scored four or more. A fortnight earlier, Blackpool were dispatched 5-1. And as Posh midfielder Ryan de Havilland explains, the secret to their prolific goalscoring is actually pretty simple.

“As a team, we just try and get the ball to Kwame Poku,” he laughs. “Because we know that if KW al we do, he's going to light the pitch up.” Poku, signed on a free transfer from Colchester in 2021, took his tally for the season to ten with a hat-trick against Cambridge. Tied with Stockport's Louie Barry in the race for the Golden Boot ahead of the weekend's fixtures, the 23-year-old wideman is currently seeking a third consecutive player of the month award and was described as “unplayable” by Ferguson after last weekend's treble.

“What's great about Kwame is that he's always looking to go forward,” adds De Havilland. “It's never sideways. Never backwards. If you give him the ball, he's always looking to attack his man and trying to create something or score. I'd hate to play against him.

“I don't know whether it's because he came through Non-League or what, but he's just someone who wants to enjoy his football and have fun. For him, scoring goals, getting assists and exciting people isn't a job - it's what he loves to do and you can see that in everything he does.”

Like Poku, whose journey to London Road began at Cray Wanderers, De Havilland cut his teeth in the Non-League game. Signed by Fulham as a nine-year-old, he spent 11 years in the academy o system at Craven Cottage but never made a professional appearance and was released in 2021.