Peterborough United boss hails his players for their outstanding response to a disappointing defeat
Darren Ferguson was full of praise for his players after they thumped Blackpool 5-1 in a League one game at the Weston Homes Stadium on Tuesday.
Posh provided the perfect response to Saturday’s nine-minute horror show at Wycombe that saw a 1-0 lead turn into a 3-1 defeat by swatting aside ‘The Seasiders.’
Ferguson’s side were at their clinical best with Malik Mothersille, Joel Randall (2), Kwame Poku and Ricky-Jade Jones getting on the scoresheet. Jones may yet lose his goal to visiting defender Odeluga Offiah. Posh are now clear as the division’s top scorers with 25 goals and have moved into the top half. They are 12th ahead of a tough trip to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
Ferguson admitted to having a long and honest conversation with his players after the defeat at Wycombe and was delighted with the response they provided. Posh were pegged back to 2-1 midway through the first-half, but scored a third goal almost immediately and then sped clear in the second-half.
Ferguson said: “Our speed of play and the front four were very, very good. I was delighted with the performance and with the reaction to conceding. It was another soft goal, but we’ve gone up the pitch and scored and that was a key moment in the game. When we really fizzed it and got people one vs one, we were really clinical. I was very, very pleased.
“We’ve got quality. We know that and perhaps our best form of defence is attack and to just go out score goals. Tonight, we could have had more than five. If we can get certain players to the level we’ve become accustomed to, then we’ve got some of the best players in the league.
“Archie Collins was outstanding tonight. It was his best game of the season. Kwame was just so good, while Ricky’s got another goal and you’ve got Malik playing like that. There’s a lot of talent, pace and quality there. Then you’ve got Oscar Wallin who was very, very good tonight. It’s such a young back four, but we coped really well.
“We can accept that you do lose games, but what hurt us the most on Saturday was the manner in which we lost. We had a long very honest chat after the game and I needed a reaction. I felt I would get one and it was an excellent one.
“Credit to the players for the response they gave. The message was clear and we have to stop conceding soft goals. Unfortunately we did concede one tonight, but after that, we dealt with things quite well and stuck our heads and bodies in the way.
“We did the basics better as Archie won a lot of the second balls and headers. We know we’ve got the quality, but now we’ve got to get the consistency. The message was just to get more goals, at five we could have gone on and got more but we saw out the game well.”
Posh travel to Bolton on Saturday having overtaken them in the table on Tuesday night. Ian Evatt’s side were beaten 2-0 at leaders Birmingham City and sit 14th.