Nathan Thompson absence forced Peterborough United to change formation against Ipswich Town, but there is good news on the injury front

Posh went away from the 4-2-3-1 formation that had seen them win six of their last eight games in favour of a three-at-the-back system with Dan Butler lining up as left centre back.

Joe Ward was also brought back into the side at right wing back for the 3-0 defeat after missing the previous two games with what turned out to be a bone bruise.

Ward was sent for a scan on Thursday, which revealed no damage to the bones in his foot.

After the match, Darren Ferguson was pleased to confirm that Ward will be available for the rest of the season but had less positive news on Nathan Thompson

“It’s just bone bruising with Joe,” Ferguson revealed. “There’s no crack. He just needs to get on with it. Fair play to the boy, he wanted to give it a go and he got through it.

“Nathan Thompson is different, he will be out longer. That’s a blow for us because he’s a natural right back and he’s got experience of these big games.”

Ferguson had the option of playing either Josh Knight, Ben Thompson or, as it turned out, Joe Ward to replace Thompson - who was injured by a heavy Ethan Hamilton tackle at Accrington Stanley on Tuesday night - but chose instead to change the system.

Kell Watts also returned to a Posh squad for the first time since New Year’s Day after recovering from a serious hamstring injury.

Explaining his tactical decisions, Ferguson said: “We have no right back. We went away from the formation that has us in good form because of that.

“Wardy can play that but I had to make a decision because he would be playing against one of the best left-sided players in the division (Nathan Broadhead). I didn’t have to change system but I felt it was the right thing to do.

The result had nothing to do with that, I’m not having that. We just didn’t execute our gameplan.

“We caused them problems when we played with our gameplan of playing through them. but we just didn’t have the finesse, nor the confidence or the belief.

“Kell is fit enough but I just felt, with the pace of the game, I should go for ‘Buts’. I had the choice to bring him on but when you bring someone on that’s been out so long it is difficult.

“I just felt that with the way Ipswich play, ‘Buts’ is inbetween left back and centre half and he’d keep going against Chaplin. It was a different type of centre half I needed on that side and I needed to balance of his left foot.”