More performances like that will land Peterborough United right in trouble warns Darren Ferguson despite Burton Albion victory
Darren Ferguson has warned his Peterborough United players they will remain in trouble if they continue to perform as they did at Burton Albion on Saturday.
The Posh boss was far from pleased with his side’s performance even though they were 1-0 winners over fellow their fellow strugglers at the Pirelli Stadium.
Archie Collins produced the only moment of quality in the game with a thunderbolt into the top corner after an hour to move Posh within three points of safety and off the bottom of League One. Posh held their lead with 10 man after Tom Lees was shown a second yellow card with ten minutes to play.
Posh moved up to 23rd after Blackpool were pegged back by a 102md minute equaliser from Wycombe in their 3pm kick-off.
Ferguson was left angered by his side’s performance though, particularly in the first half, and while he refused to reveal on what was said in the dressing room, he warned his players that they will be continue to be in trouble at the wrong end of the table if they repeat that again. He was also left disappointed that there was little evidence of his side’s work on the training ground on the international break.
Ferguson said: “I’m disappointed with the whole performance. The result is the most important thing, but that doesn’t camouflage the performance, I am scratching my head with it.
“The stuff we did on the training ground in preparation, I didn’t see it and I don’t know why. Maybe we are a lot lower in confidence than I thought, but it is something I have to get to the bottom of immediately.
“The only way we wouldn’t have shown any more intensity in the second half is if we had stayed in the dressing room. We are fighting for our lives here.I have to see more than what I am seeing.
"I am going to be brutally honest, I am not watching that. One thing I am not going to be doing is wasting my time, I don’t need to.
“In the first half, on the ball, we were appalling. It was as bad as I have seen us. We had to improve second half, the players knew that. A lot of the stuff I said to the players will remain inhouse, but it was a nowhere near good enough performance.
“The players are not stupid, they know that performance will land us in trouble if we do that every week. I suppose, at the moment, if we have to play rubbish and win, that’s the most important thing, but I need a bit more than that.
“It’s a good result and it’s always the most important thing. We defended well, especially when we went down to 10 men with around 10 minutes to go. We had to dig it out and I don’t remember them having any clear-cut chances. They had a lot of possession and were putting balls in the box, but we dealt with it well. The goalkeeper was very good, very calm.
“It was a great goal from Archie, as soon as he hit it I thought it was a goal. It was our one moment of quality. It is a win and a clean sheet and those things are important and hopefully we can build on that and gain more confidence.
“Alex Bass is just so calm when it goes anywhere near him in the box. You just feel that it’s not going to be any danger when they go near him. Away from home, when teams are just putting the ball in the box and you have a keep that keeps coming and claiming it, it kills them. He was a real positive.
“Tom’s is a clear second yellow but it was a terrible square pass to him. It’s always going to cause you a problem if it doesn’t get there. We handled going down to 10 men well though. I always feel that I am honest and I can’t come on here and kid anyone by saying that was fantastic. It wasn’t, but my standards are high. If it takes that kind of win to build out confidence and get it going again then fine, I just didn’t enjoy it. I enjoyed the result.”
Posh face another big match next Saturday (October 25) as they host Blackpool at the Weston Homes Stadium.