Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough United playbook won’t be ripped up in his absence at Championship leaders Fulham

Etherington will be assisted by former Fulham star Simon Davies at Craven Cottage, probably for the one and only time as Posh are expected to have replaced Ferguson with a permanent manager in time for the home game with Hull City on Saturday (February 26).

Etherington was only promoted to the role of assistant manager by Ferguson three months ago. He was surprised to see his former boss resign on Sunday.

“He rang me to tell me,” Etherington said. “I was surprised, but I also understood why he came to that decisions. I told him then, and I will say it publicly now, that Darren was brilliant with me and I have plenty to thank him for. I’ve been back at the club four years and he was first-team manager for three of them. I learnt so much from him and it was easy to see he was so successful here.

“Myself and Simon have been asked to take charge of tomorrow’s game and then it will just be a case of waiting to see what happens. We know each other well and it won’t be a case of tearing anything up selection-wise or tactics wise.

“We will prepare the team to the best of our abilities and try to give them a lift physically and mentally.

“We’ve been good in terms of commitment, determination and resilience in recent games and we’ve just asked the players to give us everything and we will give them everything in return.

“We know we are facing a very good Fulham side, but our performance against them at home is a good reference point for tomorrow. We played very well that day. Our shape was good and our distances were very good. They will expect to get a reaction after slipping up on Saturday, but there is more pressure on them than us.”

Posh picked up a couple of knocks while losing at Derby County on Saturday so late fitness tests will be carried out.

Harrison Burrows is back in the squad after a foot injury, but left-back Hayden Coulson serves a one-match ban after his red card at Derby.