Peterborough United boss delighted to see the fans backing Joel Randall on his return to action

Randall attracted plenty of social media fire when Ferguson revealed he had dropped a key player because of a perceived poor attitude. The boss also claimed the 24 year-old attacking midfielder was ‘unhappy at the club.’

But peace between the pair broke out ahead of Saturday’s home game against Stevenage. It’s understood Randall apologised so he started among the substitutes before coming on at half-time and playing pretty well. He will now start Tuesday’s contest against the same opposition at the Weston Homes Stadium in the EFL Trophy (7pm kick off).

"The fans’ reaction to Joel was very positive which is just what I wanted to see,” Ferguson said. “Situations like this happen in football all the time and most of the time you don’t hear about it outside of the club. It was never a case of Joel never playing again and it’s now been sorted and he’s back in the group. What happened will stay inside the club. The players know the standards we require and you drop below that there will be consequence, but it’s time to draw a line under this particular incident now.

"Joel doesn’t lack self-belief and he was very good for 20 minutes and played pretty well throughout. We needed someone to get us the link between midfield and the forwards and he certainly gave us that. He’s a very good player and a very important player for us. He will get some more minutes tomorrow.

"The result against Stevenage was far better than the performance, but then we were due some luck. I guess Stevenage went away scratching their heads wondering how they lost the game. There is no better feeling than winning a game with the last kick which you could tell from the reaction of the players and the fans, but I was also pleased to note the players didn’t over-celebrate the win in the dressing room as they knew we hadn’t played very well.

"We felt disappointed with the way we played and I see that as a positive. I just hope it does give us a lift as we need to be much better in possession and out of it. We were very careless with the ball which was frustrating as when we got it right we caused them problems. Off the ball we just weren’t aggressive enough, but they are things we can put right.

"The team will be freshened up a bit as some players need minutes and others need a rest. I also have to pick a team with Saturday in mind as we are playing in one of only two League One matches taking place. Tomorrow is important though as the plan is always to win the first two group games in this competition and then I could play some of the younger players in the last game. I expect Stevenage to be strong as they are not playing on Saturday.”

Posh and Stevenage won their opening Trophy group matches against Gillingham and Crystal Palace Under 21s respectively.

Posh host Rotherham United on Saturday. The only other League One game scheduled is Crawley v Shrewsbury.