Peterborough United boss Darren Ferguson admits he is 'failing' in his job to get more out of his side

Ferguson was left dejected after watching his side take the lead at Wycombe thanks to Ricky-Jade Jones’ 50th minute effort only for that lead to evaporate in the space of nine minutes as Posh conceded three times to substitute Richard Kone.

The goal that sealed the hat-trick came from the spot and led to the sending off of captain for the day Emmanuel Fernandez, who punched the ball from an incoming cross. The defeat means Posh end the weekend in the bottom half of the table – they are 15th ahead of Tuesday’s game against Blackpool at the Weston Homes Stadium.

After the match, Ferguson was in reflective mood and while he admitted that things must change for his side at the back, he insisted that it was his responsibility to get more out of his players, who have now conceded 24 goals in 12 league matches. – the joint worst record in the top four divisions of English football.

Ferguson said: “It’s just not good enough. We’re failing miserably in one part of the pitch. I’m not going to kid anyone, we are way off it as a team. If you keep conceding three goals a game, you’re going to be in trouble. The players need to know that it needs to stop. My job is to keep making sure I work with them and try to keep them positive but it’s extremely hard at the moment.

“You can see the issue, at 0-0 or 1-0, I don’t think anyone would say we were going to go and lose that game 3-1. When it goes to 1-1, similar things happen again. For the first goal, he’s brought the ball down on the edge of the box. We do not score goals like that. We don’t get those opportunities. It’s about having a desire to keep the ball out of the net. The first goal is appalling. The second one is the same and the third is just a mess. It’s a blatant handball from Manny.

“It’s my job to try and not have people criticising the players - they can criticise me that’s fine - and to get more out of this team and at the moment, I am failing. It’s my responsibility to improve them. It’s not always plain sailing as a manager and you have to try and find a way and have the desire to continue working with them. You’ve just got to put in the extra work and it’s hard to do what we need to do on the training ground. There’s moments in the game we come unstuck with everything going out of the window and we come unstuck because there’s panic. We’ve seen that again today.

“I’ve been brutally honest with the players and they are well prepared to take it. Sometimes you have to look at why do you choose this profession? Why do you actually want to be a footballer? It’s not to lose games. Something needs to change here very, very quickly. I’m getting grey and older, I’m not going to be here forever, but they’ve got a career ahead of them. They’ve got to start showing more for themselves.

"I’m not throwing them under the bus because I’m their leader so it falls on me absolutely, especially with a young group, but sometimes the actual truth of that question needs to be answered.

“The game was very flat in the first half. it had a pre-season friendly feel. I had to get into them and call for more urgency. I warned them at half-time, if we continue like this, we are going to lose. We need to improve the urgency.

“We were solid without the ball, but attacking wise we had to improve. Whenever we upped the tempo, we caused problems. We were in control when Ricky scored from the left after we swapped him with Malik, but then we conceded soft goals again. We’ve just got a softness about us at the moment.

“Whatever team I pick on Tuesday, I need to see a reaction. We have to see more. We are letting each other down, something has to change. We’ve conceded more goals than any team in the country. We’re now averaging two goals a game and clearly it’s our biggest weakness.”

Posh will have to make more changes in the backline as Fernandez serves a one-match suspension following his dismissal. It’s likely teenager George Nevett will step to replace him