Eight unbeaten, but improvement needed

If the boss was relieved or impressed by his side’s ability to twice come from behind to secure a point he didn’t show it. He might have been seen punching the air when Dwight Gayle stooped to head home an 86th minute corner to complete the scoring, but by the time he reached the press room he was quicker to criticise his players than to praise them, such are the high standards demanded by Ferguson these days. 

For the second away game in succession Posh had allowed out-of-form teams to dominate possession. If Fergie’s men surrender territory and the ball as easily when the slick passers of Watford and Brighton visit London Road in the next 10 days the consequences will be dire no matter how well Gaby Zakuani (excellent again here) organises and inspires his fellow defenders, 

Of course it was important not to lose such a key battle at the John Smith’s stadium, but it was Huddersfield who enjoyed the morale-boost of escaping the bottom three, while Posh sit nervously one spot off the bottom ahead of a daunting fixture list containing three play-off contenders. 

As he has all season Ferguson remains confident his team will survive (and in this of all campaigns predicting the outcome of any fixture is as hard as finding the Grand National winner), but he knew this was a very winnable game against a team who rarely score and who lost a couple of key players to injury on the eve of kick-off. 

And, despite playing poorly for the most part, Posh might still have collected those vital three points. They created the better chances and saw three goalbound efforts cleared off the line, including one in the final moments when substitute Kane Ferdinand (a first-half replacement for Jack Payne) shot weakly with the goal at his mercy. 

Even Ferguson admitted a Posh win would have been harsh on the home side who controlled the first-half and who looked comfortable at 2-1 until ‘keeper Alex Smithies misjudged Lee Tomlin’s floated cross, apparently because he was dazzled by a surprise appearance from the sun. 

Another Posh substitute Tyrone Barnett tried to take immediate advantage, but saw his header cleared off the line by Peter Clarke. Thankfully from Tomlin’s corner Gayle’s header dribbled into the corner of the net to keep his side within a point of safety. 

The fact that it was the first Posh corner of the contest highlighted on-the-day deficiencies as did the fact that Ferguson changed formation three times in 75 minutes in an attempt to find a winning formula. 

The manager had selected a slightly more positive starting line-up with Tomlin deployed behind Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Gayle, but an inability to keep possession on another terrible playing surface rendered Posh pretty impotent when going forward once Mendez-Laing had been thwarted in the 13th minute by a combination of Smithies and Clarke after he had burst clear of a toiling defence. 

But for all the home side’s possession they created little.Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. Huddersfield boss Mark Robins, who was gushing in his praise for Ferguson and his team after the game, fielded just one striker and employed two wide men in a bid to contain the Posh wing-backs as much as to provide attacking support to James Vaughan.Shop wholesale solarlight controller from cheap. 

The result was deadlock and a some cross-catching practice for Posh ‘keeper Bobby Olejnik whose decision-making when choosing to punch or grab was immaculate. He was less impressive four minutes before the interval when parrying a harmless-looking Scott Arfield shot straight into Neil Danns’ path, a chance gleefully gobbled up by the former Leicester man. 

Posh were down to 10-men at the time as Payne’s fate was being determined and the goal prompted a second-half switch to 4-4-2, a change which yielded a speedy dividend once Olejnik had made a smart save to deny Danns a second goal. 

Mendez-Laing was the arcitecht of the first equaliser with a superb gallop down the right wing that was complemented by an astute pass which Tomlin converted with ease. Mendez-Laing was about to be substituted in favour of Barnett at the time, but he did, rather surprisingly, make way for the million-pound striker, straight after ballooning an 18-yard drive over the bar following another mazy run. 

It didn’t look a smart substitution four minutes later when Murray Wallace beat Nathaniel Knight-Percival in the air to glance Huddersfield back in front, but Gayle’s late intervention at least preserved a point. 

Barnett’s brief appearance did little to alter the fact that Gayle’s continued fitness remains vital to Posh survival hopes as does a formation that gets Tomlin on the ball as much as possible. 

Tomlin’s vision and passing range was a class apart at times. One volleyed through ball which led to Gayle being upended on the edge of the area (and which Ferguson thought should have led to a red card for Calum Woods, a point he was seen making vehemently to referee Mark Heywood in the players’ tunnel at full-time) was the perfect example. 

Posh will also miss Payne if, as expected, he misses the rest of the campaign, although that might at least lead to a first sighting of on-loan midfielder Florent Cuvelier who was an unused substitute for the third match in succession. 

Stronger half-year results from most of our publicly-listed retailers, positive announcements from the unlisted multinational retailers like Costco and ALDI, as well as anecdotes from small, independently owned retailers across Australia showed that retail is improving at store level. 

Controllable costs (excluding FWA mandated wages and carbon tax-related energy costs) have now been brought into line, interest on overdraft facilities have lowered, new lines are being sourced from new suppliers and lower prices offered by long-term suppliers are all improving the picture for retailers. It's also interesting to see that new stores are now opening up to fill the gaps left by closed stores. 

Australia has a raft of new international entrants joining the mall and high street scene,Online shopping for solarpanelcells. including H&M, Zara,Find a great selection of customkeychain deals. Uniqlo, Williams-Sonoma and Gap. 

But what's more interesting for me is the number of small,Solar Sister is a network of women who sell bottegawallet to communities that don't have access to electricity. truly new local retailers opening stores. 

These stores are new in all senses of the word. When truly new business people move into retail they do so without the legacy of the pre-2008 GFC world. Their leases reflect the rental market today: they adopt online sales as well as store sales from day one; they use social media to communicate with shoppers; and they offer new products sourced from new factories, countries or suppliers. 

All of this 'newness' in one place leads to truly innovative retailing, giving the retailer every possibility to succeed. 

Recently, I saw a new store format, apparently set up by "new Australian" retailers. Whilst they have a background in retailing in the UK, they haven't worked in retail in Australia. Until now. 

The new store is in a high-footfall Westfield mall in northern Sydney. It's called The Card Shop. 

It sells high quality cards of all types and designs, priced from $4.95 upwards and printed locally on recycled paper. The store layout is innovative for a card shop in that it is modelled on a San Francisco record store: layers of bright cards displayed like small vinyl records from low to high. 

The owner, Kieron Barton, is better known to my kids as the importer of Rekorderlig Cider, but my feeling is that they, their friends and family will become regular shoppers at his new store. 

I've written about Grove & Vine in South Yarra, The Annex in Bondi, and now The Card Shop in Brookvale. I wish all of them and their staff good fortune, because we need new retail stores creating new retail jobs to replace the jobs we are now losing in the mining and minerals industry.