Can Peterborough United shrug off an 'out-of-character' performance and embrace the 'massive challenge' of tackling Birmingham City?

The Blues are 11 points clear at the top of the table and will clinch promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt with a win at Posh. They have a staggering 92 points already with seven games still to play. They have lost three of 39 League One games under first-time manager Chris Davies.

But Ferguson expects a big response from his players after they followed a steady run of positive results with an ‘out-of-character’ display at home to local rivals Northampton Town on Saturday. Posh had collected 18 points from their previous nine League One games, a run that has lifted nine points clear of the relegation zone, despite their 4-0 home loss to the Cobblers.

Left-back Tayo Edun, who has apologised to teammates and the boss, will start a four-game ban tonight following his red card in that game. On-loan centre-back Sam Hughes is not expected to return from injury, while Ferguson also has the form of players usually seen as key men to consider. Harley Mills looks certain to replace Edun.

Ferguson is still pondering other selection decisions.

“You can’t pick a team on a Saturday night after the performance we delivered,” Ferguson stated. “Selection is easy when results and performances are consistent which to be fair they had been for 10 games, including the Wrexham cup match. Even when we lost at Reading we played well and created lots of chances, but we fell way below our standards on Saturday.

"That can happen. Just when you think you have the players where you want them, something like that happens right out of the blue. We were way off in possession. We started badly and let them get onto the front foot. They pressed well, but we have dealt with that before and there is no doubt the red card had a big bearing on the game.

"We have been physically strong late in games, but the sending off made that difficult. Even if we were 2-0 down we would have had a chance. Tayo has apologised, but the ill discipline and the start of the game cost us. We just didn’t compete.

"We have to concentrate on our own performances and when we get to a certain level we can be difficult to play against. We obviously have to get to that level tomorrow.

"We have to get the basics right and to be fair to Birmingham they are brilliant with the basics of running and pressing so adding that to the quality they have makes it a massive challenge for us. They have sorted themselves out. They have financial stability and they have recruited the right manager. Chris won’t let up on them. He’s been fantastic in his first job as a manager.

"But it’s a challenge we have to embrace. We gave them a game at their place, although I didn’t think we played that well as we had no control in the game. We started well, but fell away after that.

"I’ll pick the team tomorrow. Sam remains a big doubt, but I will again give him every chance to make it. I have some really tough decisions to make and I need to look at the physical stats of the players.

"Because I took players off at half-time due to performance levels on Saturday they will at least be fresh and Malik Mothersille only played 30 minutes because of the red card.”

Posh led Birmingham 2-0 at St Andrews in September thanks to early goals from Ricky-Jade Jones and Emmanuel Fernandez, but lost the game 3-2. Posh play Birmingham again in the Vertu Trophy Final at Wembley on Sunday (April 13, 3pm kick off).