Peterborough’s Goal Machine
When in August, Ivan Toney departed Peterborough for Championship side Brentford, many may have wondered how Peterborough would be able to replace the man who scored 40 league goals in two seasons.
Peterborough signed Johnson Clarke-Harris from Bristol Rovers, the man with the unenviable task of replacing a man in Ivan Toney, who had been scoring goals at ease in League One.
Clarke-Harris had been far from prolific in his career but was showing signs of improving in front of goal with 13 league goals in 26 League One appearances in the 2019-20 season.
I think few expected Clarke-Harris to perform so well this season and he has helped guide Peterborough to the top of the League One table.
He is currently the League One top scorer with 21 goals, three goals more than the next highest scorer in the league.
His current goalscoring form is even more impressive. In his last six league games he has scored 8 goals, most recently against Wigan, where he scored a brace to help Peterborough come from behind against the Latics to win 2-1.
He has filled the shoes of Ivan Toney brilliantly, and has scored 41% of Peterborough’s 51 goals this season, demonstrating his importance to the side.
From Peterborough’s point of view it is impressive business. They sold Toney for a fee in the region of £5m and signed his replacement for £1.25m.
In 35 League One games last season before the season was curtailed, Toney scored 24 goals, and Clarke-Harris is already at 21 goals from 30 league games.
With 16, games to go, Clarke-Harris could be looking to reach 30 league goals, which only a few players have done since League One in its current format was introduced in the 2004-05 season. Billy Sharp scored 30 goals in the 2006-07 season for Scunthorpe United and scored 30 again for Sheffield United in 2016-17. Rickie Lambert scored 30 for Southampton, in the 2009-10 season. The highest scorer in League One history for a single season was Jordan Rhodes who scored 36 goals for Huddersfield Town in the 2011-12 season.
Though Rhodes, may be a tough man to beat, it is plausible that Clarke-Harris could reach 30 league goals this season if he carries on the form, he is currently in.
