Inexperience showed in the Peterborough United backline as Darren Ferguson bemoans his side not giving themselves a chance in games

After just nine league games, Posh have already shipped 17 goals. They added a further three on Tuesday night as they fell to defeat 3-0 defeat away at Wigan Athletic.

Posh started the match with a very inexperienced back four of Sam Curtis, George Nevett- who was making his first Football League start-, Emmanuel Fernandez and James Dornelly, who took to the field with just 30 Football League games between them.

The defence was breached twice by Dale Taylor, either side of half time, and again for a third time with 81 minutes on the clock by a Callum McManaman stunner from just outside of the box.

Despite creating plenty of chances at 1-0 down, Posh were unable to draw level and were subsequently punished for their wastefulness.

The defeat has dropped Posh down to 16th in the table.

Ferguson admitted that his side need help getting through a tough patch but was left frustrated once again at the quality of goals that his side conceded- particularly the opening two.

He said: “I’m disappointed. To lose 3-0 suggests we’ve been battered but in the first half we battered them.

“We’re not giving ourselves a chance though, we’re not giving ourselves a platform in games.

“Tonight, we’ve conceded the first two- which are really, really awful goals. It’s schoolboy stuff. The inexperience of the back four showed at times tonight.

“If teams are really popping it about and playing through us and have that quality, a bit like the third goal, then you hold your hands up but when teams are scoring from four yards with no contact, fundamentally we’ve got a problem.

“Putting the ball in the back of the net is key as we know. I can’t believe Kwame has missed an open goal and we had one or two other opportunities.

“We said at half time, you've just got to have the discipline to keep doing it. We know where we were hurting them but then we started the second half and conceded again. They are the easiest goals Taylor will score all season.

“I’m not one for excuses. It is a young back four but we are better than that. We can’t keep conceding goals like that.

“We’ve had 11 games this season and not kept a clean sheet so it’s staring you in the face where our problems lay.

“We’re a young group and, at the moment, we’re struggling a bit. It’s important I help them through this period. We need to keep the confidence, the belief and keep working with them.

“They’re a good group to work with, they just need a bit of help at the moment. It’s important the supporters help them as well. We are going through a little bit of a tough spell defensively and we need to sort that out.”

Posh can arrest their three-game winless run back at home on Saturday when they host Stevenage. Stevenage moved up to 9th on Tuesday after an impressive 1-0 home win over Wrexham.