Peterborough United boss admits his squad is down to the bare bones, but he was pleased with the performance in defeat at Barnsley

But he was pleased with his side’s performance in a 2-1 League One defeat by Barnsley at Oakwell on Tuesday night.

When Williams walked into the job, he inherited a squad of over 30 players, but with sales and injures decimating the squad, he has been left relying on using players outside of their usual positions as well as leaning heavily on young academy players.

Peter Kioso, one three natural right backs in the four man defence, lined up at centre-back as Posh lost for the second successive match.

The result dropped Posh down to 11th place but given that Huddersfield were beaten at Doncaster, Posh remain five points off the play-off places. The gap to the bottom four is now 11 points.

Posh went into the match with Tom Lees, Sam Hughes, Harley Mills, Jacob Mendy, Ben Woods and Matt Garbett all sidelined through injury but Williams was encouraged by the performance and insisted his side just needed more quality in the final third.

Kyrell Lisbie fired Posh in front before the home side hit back with goals either side of half-time.

Williams said: “I am really happy with the performance, but gutted about the result. We needed a bit more quality in the final third because we had so many openings we didn’t capitalise on. We are a bit unfortunate for their equaliser as there was a clear foul. David McGoldrick is then in huge space on his own.

“It was a really good action for our goal and we had a really good opening. There was some really good attacking play and it would have been a different game if we had scored when Kyrell crossed the ball to Harry Leonard.

“We did start to look a bit tired in the second half. It has been quite a tough schedule and it showed. There was still a lot of attacking endeavour and willingness to make openings and get into the box though.

“Declan Frith came in and did a really good job. He gave us really good energy and was a threat throughout the game. He did his defensive job well as well.

"I liked pretty much everyone’s performance. Dec was excellent and that’s exactly what the team needed, someone who has played a few less minutes recently and come it to give loads of energy.

“Peter Kioso came into the backline and did a good job, but he has been unwell so is not completely rested. There’s not a huge amount of options, which I didn’t think I’d say at any point this season because we had 37 players or something. That’s life and we’re a little bit down to bare bones.

“It’s not easy, but we are very happy to be playing again so quickly again and at home on Saturday. The performance tonight has made me really optimistic. I really trust the players so if one or two are struggling, then one or two will come in.

“We’ve had so much to overcome already in this short space of time and they’ve done a pretty good job so far. We are struggling a bit at the moment but we will come through this and will be back winning games soon.

"The fans have been different class and I hope they felt there team was really playing for them tonight. We were a long way from our best against Bradford and that was tough for them, but tonight they will be gutted about yet pleased with the performance.”

Posh return to London Road after three consecutive away games on Saturday (February 21, 3pm) as they host managerless Exeter City. The Grecians drew 1-1 at home with play-off chasing Wycombe on Tuesday.