Posh are now six points adrift of safety at the bottom of the Championship table after losing the new manager's first match in charge 1-0 at Sheffield United to a 42nd minute goal from Henri Camara.

It was a frustrating afternoon for Cooper and his players as new captain George Boyd saw a penalty midway through the second-half saved.

But Cooper, who left Kettering Town of the Blue Square Premier League to join Posh, was adamant his players were 'great' and that he can see brighter times ahead.

Cooper said: "There will be no criticism of the players from me. They were great and we thoroughly deserved a point.

"The aim of the game was to frustrate them and not give us ourselves a mountain to climb by conceding an early goal.

"And we achieved that comfortably. When you come to a ground like this and a club like this you expect to be conceding ground all the time while coming under a lot of pressure.

"But it wasn't like that. We weathered an early storm, but we looked comfortable and even managed to create a couple of one-on-one chances for ourselves without being too spectacular.

"Craig Mackail-Smith was through and George Boyd had a couple of good shots, but then we conceded a goal at a bad time.

"But after that we were tremendous. We penned them in their own half for long periods and we had a few chances to get a goal, most notably the penalty.

"It's a disappointing result obviously, but after seeing that performance I am more confident that we can climb the table now than I was last week."

Cooper gave left-back Scott Griffiths his debut and left Welsh international Craig Morgan out of the squad altogether.

He revealed that he'd picked his team based on dvd evidence and the evidence of his own eyes in training,

Cooper added: "I picked the best defence for the job based on the dvds of previous matches I'd sat through.

"Scott Griffiths had also looked good in training and he played well. We defended very solidly which was pleasing, but it wasn't just the back four. We looked solid across the midfield as well."

Cooper made Boyd captain for the day and the new skipper sang the praises of his new boss after the match.

Boyd said: "The manager had an impressive first week. He showed confidence in us and he kept us relaxed.

"It was clear what he wanted us to do and I felt we did it all pretty well. It's just a shame that we couldn't get the result we deserved."
Posh are next in action against Middlesbrough at London Road on Saturday.


KETTERING'S first match without Cooper finished in a 2-0 Blue Square Premier Division defeat at home to Kidderminster Harriers.