Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson thrilled with players who worked their socks off to grind out a win and with the latest brilliant goal which lifted Posh up to third

It took a brilliant 91st-minute strike from Joe Ward to clinch a 1-0 win, a result that moved Posh back up to third place, but Ferguson also admired the gritty nature of his players’ performance.

The win came after two straight League One away defeats and made it 20 points from their last eight home matches in the third tier despite handing full Football League debuts to 17 year-olds Harrison Burrows and Ricky-Jade Jones. Jones played in the absence of suspended striker Ivan Toney, while first-choice midfielders Josh Knight and George Boyd were absent because of injury.

“Apart from the goal, there wasn’t a lot of quality,” Ferguson admitted. “But my goodness what a shift the boys put in. Any team in League One would miss the three big players we had missing so I knew we would have to grind the result out.

“And that’s exactly what we did. We defended very well to nullify a very good passing side and we looked more of a threat ourselves the longer the game went on.

“I was mindful of how hard the lads had worked in the first-half so I stayed positive towards then even though we hadn’t looked after the ball well enough. We were better in the second-half when the substitutes definitely livened us up and what a goal to win the game.

“Joe has that in him. It was a strike worthy of winning any game at any level. I was stood right behind the shot and it was unsavable. Joe won the October goal of the month competition and he’ll probably now win the November one as well.

“It was important we won today after two defeats in a row when we didn’t play well and we needed to keep our strong form at home going. That’s nine wins in 12 games at home in all competitions with only one defeat in the first game.

“It’s also our 10th clean sheet in all competitions and that’s a good record that has often been overlooked this season. The lads worked their socks of to achieve it and I couldn’t be happier with them.

“It was a difficult decision to start with two 17 year-olds, but Harrison was good in the two cup gams recently and I just feel Ricky always has a goal in him. That’s why I went with him, but the service wasn’t good enough to him so it was hard work. The boy has a great future in front of him though.”