Peterborough United boss criticises fans for lack of atmosphere and ironic cheers in Burton Albion defeat

Posh endured a frustrating night against a side that came into the match with just one win in 16 league games and fresh from having been knocked out of the FA Cup by National League side Tamworth on penalties on Sunday.

In a game devoid of clear-cut chances, Posh were beaten by Mason Bennett’s second half effort and managed just one shot on target of their own. That effort belonged to Malik Mothersille who saw an effort from range routinely caught by Max Crocombe with 10 minutes to play. The save led to an eruption of ironic cheers in the ground, a reaction that displeased Ferguson.

Ferguson said: “There was a funny atmosphere tonight and the whole thing didn’t flow. I’ve been here before and the atmosphere has been flat against a team bottom of the league, but we had to create the atmosphere ourselves tonight.

“The longer the game went on the more our fans were getting frustrated as we just couldn’t break them down, it’s as simple as that. We kept going back and that’s now how we play.

“That being said, there was some foolish ironic shouts at the end about ‘we’ve had a shot.’ Come on, that’s a bit harsh, we’re the second top goalscorers in the Football League. Criticise the performance, but that is a bit harsh from the fans for the players. We create hundreds of chances all season and we score loads of goals, the deficiency is conceding them. The fans are absolutely right to criticise but that is a step too far.”