Peterborough United boss admitted the result was better than the performance as his side hit top spot

Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson admitted the result was better than the performance as Shrewsbury Town were hammered 5-1 at the Weston Homes Stadium today (October 31).
Jonson Clarke-Harris celebrates his goal for Posh against Shrewsbury. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.Jonson Clarke-Harris celebrates his goal for Posh against Shrewsbury. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.
Jonson Clarke-Harris celebrates his goal for Posh against Shrewsbury. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

The win moved Posh to the top of League One on goal difference from Ipswich Town and Lincoln City ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Bristol Rovers (November 3)

It was a sixth win in seven unbeaten games in October for Posh and this one was sealed by Siriki Dembele’s dazzling hat-trick, a Jonson Clarke-Harris penalty and a late strike from Jack Taylor.

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Ferguson reverted to a 3-4-1-2 formation for the first half of the game before switching to a flat back four for the second period after Shrewsbury had been reduced to 10 men following a bad challenge on Dembele.

“It’s a great result,” Ferguson enthused. “But the result was better than the performance. There were certain aspects of the performance in the first-half and the first period of the second half that frustated me.

“We changed formation for the right reason, but we didn’t get the wing-backs on the ball enough and we weren’t aggressive enough in our defending, plus we also gave too many free kicks away. If we’d have done things right for all of the second half we would have scored more than five. Sammie Szmodics could have scored four goals himself.

“Siriki was outstanding, but I didn’t relax until we scored the third goal, We were then very good in the final 20 minutes when the substitutes all did well.

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“And what a month we’e had and I’m delighted with the players for what they have done in October. To pick up 19 points from seven matches is an outstanding effort especially considering some of the teams we’ve had to play.

“It’s nice to be top, but it means nothing yet. We now need to keep our standards high starting with a tough game at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday. After that we have a couple of week away from League One which we will use to get players sosme game time.”

Defender Nathan Thompson was rested from today’s game. He will return to the matchday squad on Tuesday.