Darren Ferguson delighted with 'devastating' Peterborough United derby win which was even more enjoyable last season's thumping

The Posh boss enthused about his forward line after the game after they put in a ‘devastating’ performance to blow away their rivals.

A ruthless Posh put Cambridge to the sword and were 4-0 up at half-time thanks to a Kwame Poku double as well as goals from Ricky-Jade Jones and Malik Mothersille from the spot. Ryan De Havilland netted his first of the season in the second half following a Poku assist before the in-form man completed his hat-trick.

The only slight disappointment was Sullay Kaikai 84th minute curler which denied Posh their first League One clean sheet of the season.

Posh’s dominant victory means they ended the day in 12th, but just three points off sixth place in a congested League One table.

Ferguson has now challenged his side to find the same kind of devastating form on a more consistent basis.

He said: “We’re not on the kind of run we were on last season. We’ve been a bit inconsistent, but to do it again and to score six goals against anyone at any level is outstanding. In two seasons, it’s been 11-1 on aggregate. If I’d have said that last season, you’d have thought I was going mad. All credit to the players because they can really enjoy it and the fans obviously really enjoyed it. We’ve got to keep working hard and find the key to success, which is consistency. That is what we’ve struggled with. If we get that, then we know what we’re about.

“It’s fantastic though, a great day for the fans. Two seasons on the bounce we’ve put on a real performance and they’ve loved it. You have seen how devastating we can be today. They actually started the game better than us. They were more aggressive, but once we scored, up until half time, we were just devastating.

“Once we started passing forward and running forward with the pace, we showed real quality. The third goal is outstanding. The quality of the movement, Joel’s intelligence to let the ball roll into Ricky, Ricky’s hold up - he’s a strong boy and you don’t get the ball off him often – and Kwame is just unplayable at the moment so no surprise he finished it.

“The speed of play is what we worked on and once you get that around the box, it’s hard to play against. The quality was really top drawer. We didn’t want to relax after half time. We wanted to get the next goal and not let them off the hook. Even when we’ve won games this season it’s not felt like a win as we’ve had to struggle for it, like winning 3-2 when we were 3-0 up. I wanted to really enjoy this one.

“Once we got the fifth, there was a bit of a lull in the game and we conceded a goal, which we didn’t want, but I’m not going to let that ruin the day. It was a really good day for us. If you’re winning by five goals then so be it, you’d rather have that than a 1-0. Today we showed what we’re all about.”

Posh will find out on Sunday whether or not they will travel to Charlton Athletic on Saturday, November 16. The game falls within the international window but Charlton have chosen to play in the previous windows this season. They were beaten 1-0 at Exeter on Saturday.