Darren Ferguson demands more desire and fight from his Peterborough United side after they were 'nowhere near good enough' in Ipswich defeat

Posh’s play-off hopes were dealt a blow as the title-chasing Tractor Boys completed a comfortable 3-0 victory at the Weston Homes Stadium.

Goals from Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin and a fantastic improvised finish from Freddie Ladapo consigned Posh to a defeat that saw them drop out of the play-offs and into seventh.

Although Wycombe’s 2-0 defeat at home to Lincoln officially eliminated them from the play-off race, Derby beat local rivals Burton 1-0 and Bolton saw off Shrewsbury at home by the same scoreline to take Posh’s fate out of their own hands.

Bolton can stretch their lead over Posh to five points on Tuesday if they can beat strugglers Accrington Stanley at home, while Derby host Portsmouth next Saturday.

Darren Ferguson was left frustrated by his side’s lack of fight during the defeat.

He said: “We were nowhere near good enough to win a game of that magnitude. We needed an eight out of ten for everyone, but today we just didn’t do that.

“I’m really annoyed and disappointed that we didn’t perform better on the big stage and it looked like we’re so inferior to them. Today we were, but I don’t like that because I don’t think that’s the case.

“We have to find a way of getting a bigger desire to win these games. We need more fight and character. We played well for maybe 15 minutes, but we were 2-0 down, it’s too late then.

“We didn’t deserve anything out of the game, I’ve seen too many performances like that now at this place, I don’t like it.

“We have to be stronger mentally, we have to be better on the ball and we have to be braver. We’re better than that, it was just like the Derby game in the first half, we were all over the place until we changed things. We have to be better than this in these kinds of games as this is what we’re in it for. These are the games you have to enjoy.

“We never got any control, they had so much more composure. We didn’t win enough headers or second balls.

“The goals are horrendous. You can have a bad game but to concede from a throw in and then the third one, it’s just gone into the box, the centre-half has missed a header and the other one has been bullied out of the way. The second one, Hector’s got the ball, there’s no one anywhere near him and he boots it out of play and they go up the pitch and score. That sort of thing happened too often today.”

Ferguson was also left angered by referee Gavin Ward, who booked Oli Norburn after just 11 minutes.

That decision led to Ferguson choosing to replace the midfielder at halftime with Kwame Poku, but Posh stuck with their three at the back formation.

He added: “If Ollie or any of my players go and top someone or make a horrendous challenge I’d be more frustrated but when he’s got booked for that, I can’t. The referee wanted to make it about him.

“He then sets a precedent that he’s got to book everyone. Morsy had five fouls before he got booked. I’m disappointed that I’ve got to bring him off because I’m worried he’s going to get sent off. It’s a poor decision and he was the only one that was tackling. You’ve got to tackle in a game of football. We didn’t win enough tackles, headers or second balls.”

Posh will almost certainly need to win their next match at home to Bristol Rovers on Saturday, the penultimate game of the season.

Joey Barton’s men were beaten 2-0 away by Port Vale on Saturday, Vale’s first win in nine matches.