Derby day atmosphere will help Peterborough United against a dangerous Northampton Town side

Northampton Town are at London Road for a game that’s expected to attract an attendance in excess of 10,000 and Ferguson expects a fixture with an edge to it will help his players.

Posh beat Exeter on Saturday for a third win on the bounce in all competitions, but the match attracted the lowest Saturday League One attendance of the season.

"It was a bit flat on Saturday, but that won’t be the case tomorrow,” Ferguson stated. “And I am sure it will help us to play in a game with an edge to it.

"We’ve won three in a row and won the last two League One games which we had to do just to stay in touch at the top. They haven’t been fantastic performances, but we ground out two league wins and sometimes that generates confidence in a team.

“There are certain things I wasn’t happy about on Saturday, but there was a definite improvement in the second-half and we need to take that into tomorrow’s match.

"It’s one of our games in hand on some teams so we have to win it. There is so much quality in the teams above us we can’t expect them to slip up too often, but we can't really afford to slip up at all.

"We can’t look too far ahead though. After tomorrow we can concentrate on Burton and so on. If you start looking at games too far in advance you get confused and it can drive you mad!"

Ferguson is a big admirer of his Northampton counterpart Jon Brady. He’s steered a team promoted from League Two last season into a comfortable mid-table position while overseeing a change in playing style.

Cobblers beat Posh with a lucky late goal at Sixfields in August so they will seek a first Football League double over Posh since the 1986-67 Division Four season.

“Jon has done a great job and he has good players,” Ferguson added. “It looks like Will Hoskins is back now and he’s having a really good season, but they also have other threats. It seems a long, long time ago when they beat us this season, but they’re in good form still with one defeat in their last six matches.

"They have changed their style quite a bit this season. They play some good football, but we are looking forward to the challenge.

"Our aim is to be in a position to challenge for promotion when the international break is over. Momentum is one of the most important things in football and we want it when we head into April.”

This is the second of five home games for Posh in March. They would get to within four points of second-placed Derby County by beating Cobblers and they would make ground on either third-placed Bolton Wanderers or fourth-placed Barnsley as they meet at Oakwell tomorrow. A draw in that game would mean ground is made up on both teams providing Posh win of course.

The next international weekend is March 23/24 and Posh expect their scheduled League One fixture at Cheltenham Town to be postponed.