Peterborough boss insists his players must 'embrace and enjoy' the challenge of the push for promotion

Posh have eight League One games to play before the end of April as well as the EFL Trophy Final at Wembley, starting with an Easter double-header at home to rock-bottom Carlisle United on Good Friday and at play-off chasing Leyton Orient on Easter Monday (both 3pm kick offs).

Posh are seven points behind second-placed Derby County, but with the games in hand to get within a point.

“I always enjoy this part of the season and it’s important the players embrace it as well as enjoy it,” Ferguson said. “We know what is staring us in the face and we know what we need to do.

"There can be no complacency and there won’t be. We must show the same mentality against the team at the bottom of the table as we did against the top of the table last time out.

"Easter is always a pivotal weekend. It’s very hard to predict results. Teams drop points when you expect them to win and team pick up points when you don’t expect them to.

"I’ve watched some recent Carlisle games and they’ve now found a way to score goals. They were unlucky not to beat Stevenage last weekend.

"They have an experienced manager who has some good players who could be playing for their futures. It’s important I get it over to the players how hard this game will be.

"We have to make sure come Easter Monday night that we are still in the race for a top two finish. If we win tomorrow we would have had an excellent March with just one blip against Portsmouth when we were unlucky to lose.”

Posh are the top goalscorers in League One whereas Carlisle have conceded the most goals.