Jonson Clarke-Harris is not always a scorer of ‘great goals’. But a ‘great goalscorer’ he undoubtedly is. At League One level, anyway.
In fact, if you were to put together some sort of third-tier Dream Team, Clarke-Harris would be picks one, two and three for the ‘number nine’ role. The last time the Peterborough United talisman was playing at this level, he ran away with the Golden Boot.
And while Clarke-Harris might not match that 33-goal tally from 2020/21, a brace during Saturday’s 5-2 thumping of automatic-promotion chasing Plymouth Argyle meant the well-travelled poacher broke the 20-goal barrier again.
The two he scored against a Plymouth side missing the league’s stand-out goalkeeper Michael Cooper will not win Clarke-Harris any ‘Goal of the Season’ gongs; slamming in a penalty before scrambling home a second almost on the goal-line. Not that Darren Ferguson will care too much about that. A second win in a row meaning this most ‘yo-yo-ing’ of ‘yo-yo clubs’ cannot be ruled out of play-off contention just yet.
Jonson Clarke-Harris hits 20 for Peterborough United again
If only Sunderland had a centre-forward with Clarke-Harris’ penalty-area instincts; their own promotion prospects diminishing by the week. Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray was left to rue the absence of top scorer Ross Stewart – out for the reason with an ACL tear – as Sunderland suffered a second successive defeat away at Coventry City this weekend.
Copy and paste Sky Blue blunderbuss Viktor Gyokeres into Sunderland’s XI, Mowbray said, and the three points would have been on their way back to Wearside.
“If we had Gyokeres in our team, we would have won comfortably,” Mowbray tells the Northern Echo. “Put Ross Stewart in the team and I think we win the football match.”
Sunderland, according to Sports Illustrated, sent scouts to watch Clarke-Harris shortly after Christmas; Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony confirming that former Stadium of Light boss Lee Johnson also wanted the 28-year-old long before Mowbray took his place in the red-and-white dugout.
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Clarke-Harris’ record in the Championship is not quite so fearsome. But put him in a frontline containing the creativity of Jack Clarke, Patrick Roberts, Amad Diallo and Alex Pritchard. It would take a brave man to bet against ‘JCH’ hitting double figures at least.
The irony was, of course, that the true extent of Stewart’s injury was only revealed a day after the window closed on February 1st. Had Mowbray known what was to come, perhaps Sunderland would have made a more concerted effort to bring Clarke-Harris in mid-season.
Their loss, then, is most certainly Peterborough’s gain; that Plymouth hammering potentially laying the foundations for a late play-off push.
“If we put in that level of intensity and quality every game then you have a chance. We’ve got a game on Tuesday we have to win,” Ferguson tells Peterborough Today.
“There’s no point putting in that level and not repeating it on Tuesday. We have to now show a level of consistency we haven’t shown this season.
“I’m looking for consistency in results. We will have to go on a real run just to get into the play-offs. We’ve won five out of seven, which is decent, but we now need to go on another run. We need to keep finding ways to win. (On Saturday), we deservedly beat one of the best teams in the league.
“We need to remember though, this is Peterborough. This is expected. We’ve beaten Leeds and Leicester here in the past here. The mentality has to be that we can beat anyone.”
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