Grant McCann lauds his goalscoring hero Ephron Mason-Clark and hopes fans can see why he was brought to Peterborough United

The 23-year-old wide man was not the profile of player many expected to see the club sign when Sammie Szmodics was sold to Blackburn in the summer.

McCann though had admired the former-Barnet man for several years, even going back to his time at Hull, and finally got his man in the final days of the windows.

Mason-Clark has had to be patient though and did not make his first League One start until last Saturday at Oxford.

He marked his full Football League debut with two assists and went one better on Tuesday night, against Accrington Stanley, smashing a stunning strike into the top left corner from range to level the scores.

He then produced his third assist in just two games when he had the awareness to get up after being tripped in the penalty area to be able to slide the ball across to Kwame Poku for a simple tap-in to make it 2-1 to Posh.

McCann was overjoyed with his summer signings’ performance and paid tribute to him after the match.

He said: “Ephron is in really good form. I said a few weeks ago, some of the boys need a run in the team with the team playing well. Ephron was certainly one of them.

“We lost Ricky, who was contributing goals and assists and Ephron’s come in and he’s contributing goals and assists. It’s perfect for us. It’s great and he’s only going to grow in confidence with that.

“Hopefully the fans can see now why we brought him to the football club. His energy, his aggression, his runs, his ability to shoot, to come inside the pitch and set goals up made him a very good player and I’m delighted for him.

“His no-fear approach is one of the reasons we brought him to the club. Having watched Ephron for many years now at Barnet- he was very high on my list when I was at Hull- I know a lot about him.

“I think the biggest thing about Ephron is that he is a top lad. He’s such a nice, grounded kid who just wants to learn and wants to get better and I’m really pleased that he’s produced what he’s produced over the last two games.”

Mason-Clark’s last two performances have given him a strong chance of starting the derby match against Cambridge on Saturday, even if Ricky-Jade Jones is declared fit. McCann has revealed that Jones is recovering from an ankle injury- picked up against Wycombe- quicker than expected and has a chance of being fit for the match.