Peterborough United boss defends midfielder after early substitution revealing he was sick “five or six times” before kick-off

Eyebrows were raised when Ferguson swiftly withdrew the 29-year-old after it was his wayward pass that gifted possession to Ben Brereton-Diaz to bring the ball forward and score Blackburn’s fourth on a disappointing night for Posh.

It would not have been the first time Ferguson had immediately withdrawn a plyer after making a making a mistake leading to a goal, having done so with Frankie Kent on the opening day against Luton but Ferguson insisted, after the match, that this was not the case.

He said: “People will make mistakes and if you were going to bring people off for every individual mistake they made, both managers would be left with no players on the pitch.

“To be fair, he had been sick five or six times before the game, he said he felt ok and I felt with the way the game was, Conor Coventry hasn’t had much football, so it was an opportunity to get on the pitch.

“He’ll be fine for Saturday, he felt fine, but I just think the fact he was sick took the energy out of him, so that’s the reason why I made the change.”