Darren Ferguson delighted with Cambridgeshire Derby victory to erase the 'painful' defeat of last season

Posh registered their first away Football League away win against Cambridge United since New Year’s Day 1988 thanks to a second half cross from Ephron Mason-Clark that found its way in to the back of the net.

The win moved Posh up to fifth ahead of Oxford’s home match against Leyton Orient at 3pm and ended a five-match winless run in League One.

Given, Posh’s recent poor league form, Ferguson described the match as ‘must-win’ and was delighted to see his side get their promotion push back on track.

He said: “I’m delighted as this was the most important game in the week without a shadow of the doubt. We’ve managed to come away and get a clean sheet and the win, which we thoroughly deserved.

“It’s the first time Peterborough have won here in over 30 years, which tells you how hard it is. It’s a long time, that record must have stood for a reason.

"Last season was a painful defeat, we didn’t turn up and the fans knew that. Today was a must-win after last season and given our league form. I was really pleased for the fans we got that win.

“The game started how I expected, quite frantic, they were getting tackles right into us, which you’re always going to expect in a derby. Towards the end of the first half, we started to get control, we tweaked something tactically and in the second we controlled the game.

“We spoke at half time about getting Ephron to move the ball quicker, he allowed them to get tackles in too many times - a lot of them were fair tackles - they’re not going to allow him space to do what he does.

“They were really well organised, they doubled up all the time, so it was hard but he never shies away from getting tackled or kicked.

“We were a bit fortunate with the goal, it’s a good ball into the box but it was meant for someone, I would have thought. Then it was the same old story as we can’t kill a team off.

“We had so many opportunities, at the end we have three-on-one, it has to be a goal, which kills them off. When it’s only one, especially in a derby, they can just put balls into the box and cause a threat.

“Saying that, second half, they didn’t trouble us much at all. From now until the end of the season, we need more clean sheets. That’s going to be really key to us being successful or not. We need to have that desire and determination to keep the ball out of the net because we know we’ve got good attacking players.

“There’s things we need to improve on going into the final third of the season, but I’m delighted with the players. It’s been a long week.

“We have to kick on from here. Today was a real pivotal day. There was no way we could drop any more points.

"It’s been a terrible month but there is still time to catch up. We’ve got to really attack March, we’ve got a lot of home games and the pitch will be better. We’ve had a blip and now hopefully we can start another run."

Posh host Exeter City at home next Saturday, looking for revenge for the defeat at St James Park earlier this month.