It had to be Zamora

He marked an unexpectedly swift comeback from injury with two uncharacteristic early misses, one a penalty, plus yet another priceless matchwinner.

Zamora was not scheduled to return until Saturday's home game against Swindon after dislocating a shoulder against Notts County at Withdean 19 days ago.

It was a nice surprise for the 3,300 fans making the journey up the M11 to see their goalscoring hero back in the side so soon.

Boss Peter Taylor said: "I don't always tell the 100 per cent truth. Bobby is that important to us that it was worth taking the risk.

"To be fair to our physio Malcolm Stuart, he thought he had a chance of being fit for Peterborough the Monday after he did the injury."

Within three minutes of the kick-off Taylor was wondering about the wisdom of rushing back his talisman.

Danny Cullip was fouled just inside the box by Marc Joseph from a Paul Watson free-kick.

Zamora, not for the first time, missed from the spot. His side-footed penalty lacked both power and direction to beat the athletic Mark Tyler, who moved to his right to keep it out.

"I thought what a bad decision it was to play him!" Taylor joked. "I was very surprised. It was a very poor penalty and then he had a chance after that, but it shows his character.

"He carried on believing he was going to get a goal and it was nice for him to score in front of our supporters."

Zamora had to wait until the 64th minute to make amends, but it was worth the wait.

Cullip flicked on a long throw from Kerry Mayo and he turned past his marker Dennis Pearce to rifle his 32nd goal of the season with his supposedly weaker right foot.

Had it not been for Tyler, Albion would have staged a repeat of their previous away game at Colchester, where they romped into a 3-0 lead inside half-an-hour.

Tyler followed up his penalty stop by foiling Zamora and Paul Brooker in one-on-ones in the first half.

He also kept out a Junior Lewis header from another long throw by Mayo, making his 200th League appearance for Albion, a minute before Zamora struck the decisive blow.

Taylor was not taken aback by Tyler's heroics. "Mark did that to us at home as well," he recalled.

"I had him in the under-21's (England), so I know what a good goalie he is."

Albion were not the force in the second half which they had been in the first. Perhaps they were distracted by thoughts of the sickening injury sustained by Gary Hart after only eight minutes.

He broke his left leg as he went into challenge the jumping Joseph. It was a complete accident and the Peterborough centre half was not in any way to blame.

Taylor said: "We were all desperate to get him a result and thankfully we did.

"We didn't tell them too much at half time, but we knew it was serious.

"The second-half performance was poor from us and I was surprised by it. In the first half we should have been three or four up to make it easier.

"The pitch and the wind were awkward, but in the second half Peterborough were much better than us.

"We were solid. We didn't play particularly well, but we got that important goal."

Zamora said: "I've missed a couple of penalties. It didn't seem to be going for me, but it all came good in the end.

"I tried to turn and hit the target and thankfully it went in. My shoulder is not too bad, just a little bit sore."

Zamora will still have to wait for his England debut. He did not report on Saturday night with the rest of the under-20 squad for Wednesday's game against Portugal because he suffered a slight reaction to his shoulder injury "We will have to wait and see," added Taylor. "At times Bobby didn't look 100 per cent right and I think I really want him in the team on Saturday."

Inevitably the ever-ebullient Barry Fry had the final word on another memorable afternoon for Zamora.

On the way to the post-match press conference the Peterborough boss patted him on the head and declared in that brash, industrial way of his: "Bobby who? **** brilliant!"

Every Albion fan would agree.