THERE were no miracles at Peterborough as Wanderers delighted then disappointed in equal measure and they finish the regular season third, facing a play-off against Barnsley.

Ian Evatt’s side will head to Oakwell for the second successive year, buoyed perhaps by the two teams’ very differing recent form.

The away leg of the game will be played on Friday, May 3 (kick-off 7.30pm) and the return leg at the Toughsheet will be on Tuesday, May 7 (8pm kick-off).

Bolton made an explosive start to the game at London Road, knowing they had to win well to stand any chance of toppling Derby County in second spot.

But the Rams quickly established their own lead, to leave this game an open and rather meaningless affair in the end.

Wanderers’ led 2-0 with a Kyle Dempsey header and a Dion Charles penalty inside eight minutes but then found their free-spirited opponents too hot to handle after half time, Malik Mothersille scoring twice, either side of a Joel Randall effort.

Cameron Jerome then bundled in an equaliser before the end to leave an entertaining contest level and both sets of supporters relatively happy.

Wanderers made two changes to the starting line-up that started the game against Port Vale, Ricardo Santos coming back against his former club to replace Caleb Taylor and Kyle Dempsey for Paris Maghoma, who was unwell.

If nothing else, Bolton needed to do their bit. And within eight minutes they were 2-0 up.

Dempsey opened the scoring with a well-taken downward header from Randell Williams’s cross and then the same wide-man won a penalty from an untidy challenge from Jadel Katongo on the edge of the box, giving Dion Charles the chance to send Jed Steer the wrong way from the spot.

It was Charles’s 18th of the season and his first since January – but the encouraging sign for Bolton was that he looked back to his waspish best, causing Posh defenders trouble every time a ball was allowed to bounce near the penalty box.

Derby quickly went ahead against Carlisle, which rather muted the early momentum, and though Bolton remained largely in control, they never quite reached the same fever pitch levels of the opening 10 minutes.

Home fans were already sore about the penalty award from referee Bobby Madley, which was marginal, but the rest of the half was spent screaming for free kicks as Gethin Jones and Ephron Mason-Clark’s battle down the Posh left provided ample entertainment.

The Bolton defender did live on the edge at times and was stripped for pace on one occasion as Mason-Clark wastefully rolled a shot wide of the post.

Wanderers had defended well against the hosts’ quick counters on the whole, and might have been further in front had half-chances which fell to Charles and Dempsey been taken, or George Thomason’s deflected drive ended up on target rather than bouncing past the post.

Referee Bobby Madley had angered the home crowd with some of his decisions in the first half but when he failed to appear after the break, the game did take a very different direction under fourth official Scott Tallis.

Within five minutes Posh had pulled a goal back. David Ajiboye sprung the offside trap on the right, crossing for Mothersille to score from close range.

There was an appeal for handball in the build-up and a hint of offside in Ajiboye’s run but the mood of the day had changed irreversibly and Peterborough were suddenly in the driving seat.

The right flank proved a productive one for Posh, and after a prolonged spell of pressure Josh Sheehan hooked another prod at goal from Mothersille off the line.

News that Derby had scored a second goal filtered around the stadium, and seemed to further diminish Bolton’s attacking instincts.

Baxter had to push a daisy-cutter from Mason-Clark around the post and then make a full-length stop from Archie Collins’s blast from the edge of the box.

Peterborough’s equaliser also had a whiff of offside about it, Joel Randall bursting through the middle before finishing well over the advancing Baxter.

Bolton had a brief chance to go back ahead, Williams crossing from the left to find sub Dan Nlundulu but the ball would not sit down for him, and his shot ended up in the stands.

To make matters worse, Posh took the lead less than a minute later. Jones lost possession in his own half and Randall crossed for Mothersille to score his second.

Had Wanderers lost the game, it would have been a potentially damaging down note on which to approach the play-offs, but Nat Ogbeta – who had replaced the excellent Williams – whipped in a good ball from the left which bounced off sub Cameron Jerome and into the net.

The veteran now has three goals in his last three games and showed once again that he can be an effective presence from the bench.

The full time whistle put a punctuation mark on a regular season which has had ups and downs for Wanderers but ultimately saw them miss out on their top two target.

“Que sera, sera,” sang the travelling fans, whose backing on the day was first class.

“What will be, will be.” News of Northampton’s late goal at Barnsley meant a trip to Oakwell, not Oxford.

“We’re going to Wembley.”

Maybe, and on this evidence a game against Peterborough on a decent pitch would be a suitably entertaining spectacle for a play-off final.