Peterborough United manager found the Posh performance at Rotherham ‘concerning’ claiming it was like watching men against boys

Alex Woodyard of Peterborough United controls the ball away from Dan Barlaser and Matthew Olosunde of Rotherham United . Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com

Ferguson conceded Rotherham were superior in every department as they scored four unanswered goals in the second-half, three of them after Posh centre-back Frankie Kent was sent off after picking up two yellow cards in five minutes.

Rotherham also finished with 10 men, but they have overtaken Posh who have slipped to sixth after back-to-back heavy defeats.

Posh were without Marcus Maddison because of a niggle.

“It was men against boys,” Ferguson admitted. “They were vastly superior to us in every department, in every part of football imaginable.

“We were miles off it as a team. They had far too much for us. It can happen, but that was a very concerning defeat. We had to change the team again which isn’t helping, but we had players and a team out there that shouldn’t have been beaten 4-0 by Rotherham.

“You learn a lot about your players from games like this, I certainly learnt a lot about a lot of things today.

“We had to play in a certain way which meant being brave on the ball, but they pressed us relentlessly and we couldn’t even get the first pass away. They just overpowered us and we had no answers,

“Rotherham have a Championship-strength side and they are bound to be up there at the end of the season. They didn’t create an awful lot in the first-half, but they were always the dominant side. They were always going to be a threat from set-pieces because of their size, but we should have defended them better.

“We had teenagers in the side, but I’m not blaming 17 year-olds for this. I felt Ricky-Jade Jones was ready to play and he did well in the first-half, but the service to the front two and to George Boyd in the number 10 role was non-existant. There was no creativity at all.

“We didn’t play too badly against Doncaster. That was a freak result, but Rotherham thoroughly deserved this result. It would have been more but for Mark Beevers.”

Posh are next in League One action at Lincoln City on New Years Day.