Peterborough United boss keeping young star's feet on the ground and the importance of scoring first at Lincoln City

Mason-Clark (23) has made a huge impact at the Weston Homes Stadium since arriving from Barnet in August.

He was outstanding in the 5-2 romp at Burton Albion on Tuesday when he scored his sixth goal for the club and played key roles in three other goals.

"We have to be careful with someone like Ephron,” Ferguson said. “It’s easy to put players on a pedestal and for them to fall off it quickly. I certainly don’t want to put extra pressure on him.

"He obviously has huge potential and he is a joy to work with, but we are also conscious of his need to improve in certain areas. For instance he plays on the left wing so he needs to improve crossing with his left foot and he knows that.

"The good thing is he wants to learn. He listens and he wants to improve. He does a lot of one-on-one sessions.

"I haven’t known him for long obviously, but he’s a great lad and a big attacking threat.”

Mason-Clark should start Saturday’s League One game at Lincoln City (1pm kick off) when Posh will try and add to the momentum gained at Burton.

Posh have 10 League One games to go and a six point gap to the play-off places to make up.

"Burton was an important result for us,” Ferguson added. “The manner of the performance confirmed the players believe we can still force our way into the play-offs.

"We played well, but there are still bits we can improve on. We were too slack defensively as a team at times as we allowed too many shots at goal and gave away too many free-kicks to a team with a very good set-piece taker.

"We can’t go completely gung-ho and just forget about defending. We want to be positive, but we have to do both parts of the game right from now on. We can’t afford any more slip-ups.

"Lincoln are good. I saw them a few times when I was having a break and I’ve en some of their games recently. They started playing a 3-4-3 formation and it’s worked well for them.

"They are a dogged team and the first goal will be important. We have to make sure we control the tempo of the game. That’s really important tomorrow.

"They’ve had a lot of draws and they are unbeaten at home. You have to respect that record after 36 games of a season.”

Posh midfielder Hector Kyprianou could be back in the squad tomorrow after missing the Burton game with an ankle injury. Defender Dan Butler and striker Ricky-Jade Jones are also pushing for inclusion.