Darren Ferguson happy to win ugly at the business end of the season and he uses Manchester United as an example of what not to do!

Ferguson has always tried to employ entertaining, attacking gameplans in his 16-year management career, but he accepts demands are different when the business end of a season arrives.

Posh have 12 League One games left in which to bridge a two-place, seven-point gap to the play-off positions, starting with a home match against a Cheltenham side with the worst scoring record in the division on Saturday (3pm).

“From here on in finding a way to win is paramount,” Ferguson said. “The football doesn’t have to be beautiful on the eye as long as the result is good.

"We won’t change our approach, but if it becomes a struggle we just need to find that way to win.

"We did it on Tuesday against a really resilient side in Shrewsbury. We played some good football, particularly in the first-half, and, although the second-half was more even, we deserved to win.

"And it was an important win against a team around us. After we beat Plymouth so well there was a feeling outside the club we would go on and win 10 games in a row, but football is never that simple.

"People were then deflated by the Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday results, but inside the club we weren’t.

"We have kept focussing on the next game without getting too emotional about the result. My messages to the players have consistently been about that. I don’t get carried away with wins or losses.

"Scoring late in a home game against difficult opponents was a nice way to win, but we have been all about the Cheltenham game since then and when this one is over we will turn our attentions to Burton.

"We will obviously try and keep winning and see how many points we can pick up quickly. If we don’t do our jobs in these games the matches in the future become irrelevant so there is no point in looking too far ahead.

"As always you have to earn the right to play. If you do don’t do the fundementals right you will have problems as Manchester United unfortunately showed last weekend.

"Cheltenham still need points for a different reason to ours. They have picked up points in their last two games without conceding a goal. They haven’t scored many, but they have a goalscorer in Alfie May.

"I took him to Doncaster. He’s a very good player. He’s very bright and a good finisher so we need to make sure we look after him. We need to stop conceding soft goals like the one against Shrewsbury.

"My players are in good spirits though. They’ve been bubbly in all the time since I came back. They enjoy and look forward to training.”

May has scored 10 of Cheltenham’s 26 League One goals this season.

Kwame Poku will be back in the Posh squad after being rested in Tuesday’s win over Shrewsbury.

Centre-back Josh Knight completes his three-match suspension on Saturday and will be available to play at Burton on Tuesday (March 14), if required.