Peterborough United boss has dreams of lifting the EFL Trophy after win over talented Spurs team

Posh’s 3-1 win over Spurs U21 means that only a four-goal defeat in their final match away at Colchester on November 21, coupled with a victory for Spurs at Cambridge would see Ferguson’s side eliminated from the competition.

A Posh side which saw seven changes from the weekend win over Blackpool went behind to a headed goal from Alejo Veliz, but hit back either side of half time thanks to a first career goal for centre-back Emmanuel Fernandez as well as goals for the second consecutive games from Ricky-Jade Jones and Kwame Poku.

Ferguson was pleased to see his side give themselves breathing room in the group and is already looking forward to giving more young players an opportunity to play at the jobServe Community Stadium next month.

Ferguson said: “I want to win the trophy if we can, but I always focus on winning the first two games of the group and it generally gets you through with a game to spare and now I can look at the third game how I wanted to and give lads such as Donay (O’Brien-Brady) and JD (James Dornelly) a chance to play.

“I was pleased with parts of the performance, probably more the last two thirds than the first, but momentum is a big thing in football and we’ve kept that going with another win.

“We weren’t intense enough in the first half an hour. We were a bit tentative and they’re a difficult team to play against. They’re a good team and I like the way they play. They’re talented boys and they move the ball quickly and try and tempt you out of position, which they did on occasions in the first half.

“Once we got a bit more intensity into our press, the last 15 minutes of the first half was much more like us and we should have probably have been ahead going into the interval.

"It was a good start to the second half as getting the goal so quickly meant that we didn’t have to go after them so much, but it was a good game for my players tactically against a different sort of team and how good they were technically. Our organisation and communication had to be bang on and when we got that right we should really have had more opportunities in transition.

"It’s really pleasing for Ricky and Kwame to get another goal each because momentum, not just in terms of results, but within individuals is important.

“The key for us was to beat the press. We started building from the back with a three, but I had to change to building with a four to give us more options. When you have the sort of players we do at the top end of the pitch, when you beat a press, they are in one-on-one. We do a lot of work that and are getting better at it. The third goal is a perfect example of that.”

The match also saw the debut of summer signing Malik Mothersille, who lasted 73 minutes before being struck down by cramp. Posh also made a half time change to bring on Poku as a precaution for David Ajiboye.

Ferguson added: “He (Malik) was fine. He was good. We probably didn’t get enough service into him in the first half an hour, but you can see what he’s about and he’s trained really well. He’s got good movement and he can run. He’s still getting used to working with me because he decided after 70 minutes to sit down and think that was enough! But he’s going to be a good player for us.

“David came off when he felt a slight pain in his abductor. It’s not serious, it was just a knock and he felt something and we weren’t going to take any chances with it and hopefully he’ll be ok for Saturday.”

Posh host Salford in the FA Cup on Saturday.

The Ammies were involved in a remarkable EFL Trophy game on Tuesday night against Manchester United U21s which saw they go from 2-1 up to 3-2 down before winning 4-3 thanks to penalties in the 87th and 95th minute.