It was a tough defeat to take for Peterborough United, but they will use the positives and get ready for a trip to the new League One leaders

Posh lost the League One clash 2-1 at Pride Park on Saturday after conceding twice in the final minutes of the game. Posh had taken the lead through substitute Josh Knight after controversially being reduced to 10 men with the dismissal of Nathan Thompson.

But Ward insisted there were still plenty of positives to take from a second defeat of the season.

"We’re gutted with the result obviously,” Ward said. “But we will take positives from the way we played, even after we went down to 10 men as we still played the better football for a time.

"It’s a tough result to take, but we will make sure we come out strong again next week.

"We put absolutely everything into the game. We created chances, had lots of shots and got into some great positions. The gaffer said afterwards we matched them throughout the game.

"We just couldn’t finish our chances which was disappointing and to then let two goals in the end was horrible.

"They scored from a corner which gave the momentum to try and score a second goal. The crowd got involved as well.

"We won’t win every game we play so we will take this on the chin and move forward to the next one.”

Posh are next in action in an EFL Trophy match at home to Stevenage on Tuesday (August 30, 7pm) before travelling to Portsmouth for a League One game on Saturday (September 3).

Pompey moved to the top of the table following a 1-0 win at Port Vale and a 2-2 home draw for previous leaders Ipswich Town at home to Barnsley yesterday.