Is this the biggest challenge of Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson's career? He certainly has a few problems to solve before the play-offs, but one bad result need not be terminal, just ask Oxford United

A top two finish in League One has gone after a horrific 5-0 defeat at Oxford United on Saturday, but a play-off place is a certainty with four games to go (and who wouldn't have snatched a hand off if that scenario had been offered in August). Planning for those post-season games is now the priority for the multi-promotion-winning boss and he obviously has a few problems to solve.

It was the reaction to adversity as much as the comedy defending and glaring misses at the other end of the pitch that concerned me at the Kassam Stadium. In fact there wasn’t a reaction, rather a meek acceptance that this was not going to be a good day.

Commendably neither the manager nor the captain used it as an excuse in public, but three matches in six days including the euphoria of a Wembley win looked to have left the players running on empty, mentally and physically against relatively well-rested and bang in-form opponents. Posh players seemed to lack the energy to launch a meaningful fight-back after making the sort of defensive mistakes which suggested frazzled minds. Experienced heads like goalkeeper Jed Steer and player-of-the-year candidate Archie Collins made schoolboy errors to gift goals to a rampant Oxford United side who hardly needed the help.

So what does Ferguson do in the four matches Posh will play before the play-off battles commence?

1) He has to strike a balance between giving players a break, while also ensuring some momentum is taken into the play-offs. Harrison Burrows and Ronnie Edwards have started all 42 League One matches this season, while Ephron Mason-Clark and Archie Collins have started 40. They’ve also played their fair share of cup matches, and, in the case of Edwards, some international football. None of them were razor sharp in Oxford. Indeed the passing throughout the team was slow and often predictable, another product of tired minds. Posh have to play their final four games in 12 days starting with Fleetwood at home on Tuesday (April 16) so some rotation has to happen. Playing a semi-final second leg at home would be favourable, especially after what happened last season, but it’s not as essential as giving players a much-needed break.

2) It’s always been a fear a lack of squad depth would come back and haunt Posh. The substitutions Ferguson made at half-time at Oxford emphasised that. It was understandable he wanted to haul established players off given how awfully they were playing, but the changes made Posh weaker. Giving the starting XI, which let’s face it despite a couple of obvious flaws is the best he has, another 15 minutes to right the wrongs of the first-half would probably have been a better option. An early Posh goal could have altered the flow of the game, but the second-half team was never going to achieve that. There’s a chance some of the under-employed players will be needed in the play-offs so now give them some game time to try and get them up to speed and improve confidence. Giving young right-back James Dornelly a go from the start soon would be a good idea because the only option Posh seem to have when Jadel Katongo’s standards drop is to switch to wing-backs and that’s rarely looked like working.

3) Malik Mothersille needs to be start the next four matches at centre-forward. The pressing skills, speed and workrate of Ricky-Jade Jones are all admirable, but he is a centre-forward in an exciting attacking team who isn’t in double figures for League One goals yet, and Posh have scored 80 of them. He missed two great chances yesterday, both from close range. He just lacks a striker’s instinct for getting into the right positions and if he does he remains an erratic finisher. Mothersille is far from the finished article either, but he needs a run of games so we can see what he can do. Playing Kwame Poku as a ‘10’ for a couple of games is another option to explore as Joel Randall’s influence is waning. If on-loan winger Michael Olakigbe is fit get him in the side. He’s one who should be busting a gut to be involved.

4) Ferguson needs to remind his players they are still enjoying a terrific season. They’ve won a cup and they’ve pushed the three biggest clubs in the division all the way in the race for automatic promotion. This is the season to get out of this division as it will be a lot stronger in 2024-25 as the teams coming down won’t be burdened by points deductions and the teams coming up have financial muscle behind them. Bad results happen, but they need not be terminal. Oxford are proof of that. They were awful in losing 5-0 at Bolton in the middle of March and since then they’ve won four out of five unbeaten games, scoring 16 goals and conceding just one.