Peterborough United boss doesn't believe Bolton's first-half red card did his side any favours

Posh played the entirety of the second half at the Toughsheet Community Stadium with a man advantage after Gethin Jones was sent off for a shocking studs up challenge on Ricky-Jade Jones right at the end of the first half, but had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Ferguson’s side had taken the lead thanks to a powerful Jonson Clarke-Harris header, but were pegged back just a minute later when Posh goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic spilled a cross right into the path of Victor Adeboyejo.

Posh were unable to find a winner in the second half despite hitting the same post three times.

The point sees Posh move onto 14 points, still level with Bolton, but one place behind them in eighth having played a game more.

Ferguson said: “I’m disappointed as when you hit the post three times in one half, you expect one of them to go in. I don’t know if it was a good thing that they got a man sent off because it gave them an easy decision to make and they just sat in. Similar to Tuesday, we had to work the ball outside of them and try to find a way through.

“We played very well in the first half as we were finding so much space and were very dangerous. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the rub of the green in the second half. If one of those goes in, you could win more comfortably, as the game has to open up as they chase it.

“I have been involved in games where we could have lost it though as they had the two big strikers (Dan Nlundulu and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson) on and they were putting the ball forward. They were a threat and kept them in the game by keeping the ball in our half.

“I was pleased with the performance, not the result, but first half we went toe-to-toe with them and I saw a good maturity from my team. If we can get that on a consistent basis, we will win a lot of games.”

With his goal, Clarke-Harris moved onto four league goals for the season and clear of Hector Kyprianou as the club’s top scorer. He has now scored in back-to-back games and - like onTuesday night - was assisted by Harrison Burrows.

Ferguson was still keen to see more cutting edge from his side though, having had over 50 shots in their last two games.

He added: “You can’t stop him (Clarke-Harris), that’s a fact. You put the ball in that area for him and that’s a goal and we have to do that more often. He was really up for it today and needs to find that form for every game. He’s pretty much unplayable like that.

“We just switched off (for the equaliser), They’ve got down the side of us, but the goalkeeper will hold his hands up. He should keep the ball in his chest and not let it loose. It was most disappointing.

“We didn’t manage a way of breaking them down and we were a little bit unlucky with that.

“We’ve had 51 shots in our last two games. That’s an enormous amount and we also had 46 crosses on Tuesday night. We need to keep working with the players and improving in that part of the pitch because throughout the league we’re having the most touches in the opposition box and shots, but it doesn’t really matter because we need to have more quality.”

Posh are expected to field a strong side as they travel to face Mansfield Town on Tuesday night in the third round of the EFL Cup. Nigel Clough’s side are unbeaten so far this season and won 1-0 against Barrow on Saturday.