Grant McCann not worried about being written off as League One promotion now sole focus for Peterborough United

Following Saturday’s (November 26) defeat to Shrewsbury in the FA Cup, Posh have exited two cup competitions in the space in the space of five days and have no choice but to put all their focus on their push to get back to the Championship at the first opportunity.

Despite having lost their last two as well as seven out of ten away league matches, Posh are still well placed, at least for a play-off place, in fourth.

A gap of nine points has opened up to the top three but Posh still have 27 games left of the season to make their move.

Given the fact that Posh are currently on a run of four defeats in five games, McCann fully expects to be written off as automatic promotion but is not bothered one bit.

He said: “We’ve lost four of the last five. We’re going through a bit of a sticky spell at the minute but the reality is that we are fourth in the league and we’ll have a real focus now on our main target; which is the league.

"It’s everything, the league is our bread and butter. Of course, the cup competitions are important but the league is everything.

"We want to try and get out of this division. We are 19 games in now and we’ve got a really good chance to put in a real challenge and to start chasing the leaders.

“I think a lot of people will write us off now for sure. I’ve been there before as a manager, probably in every job I’ve been in. So, I’m looking forward to the run-in, we’re coming up to a really busy period over December, Christmas and January.

"I have no doubt that myself, my staff and this group of players will be pushing.”

Posh have been given a weekend off on January 7 given their FA Cup defeat coupled with Burton Albion’s progress into the third round but Posh still face six games between now and New Year’s Day- when they host Wycombe.

That run begins at home to play-off chasing Barnsley, who sit just a point behind Posh in sixth, on Friday night (December 2).

Ahead of that game, McCann has his attention on cutting out the individual errors that cost his side so dearly at Shrewsbury.

He said: “It’s just about repetition every day on the training ground; making sure we switch on and focus. Ultimately, we’re all human beings and we make mistakes and that’s what happened (at Shrewsbury). We’ve made mistakes and it’s cost us the game.

“We can’t go over the top with certain players because we need them next week but it’s about learning. We’ll just keep making them understand how important it is to do their jobs, particularly at set plays and hopefully we can improve.”