Peterborough United boss praised his side's passion and endeavour after fightback at Burton Albion
Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson has praised his side for not going under after falling 2-0 behind at Burton Albion on New Year’s Day.
Posh’s young side had fallen 2-0 behind at rock bottom Burton before mounting a comeback - thanks to goals from Archie Collins and Emmanuel Fernandez - to claim a point.
After the match, Ferguson hit out at his defence - questioning if they listen during pre-match briefings after both Burton goals came from poorly defended balls into the box – and admitted he had made a mistake in not adding experience to the squad in the summer.
Posh, who switched to a formation with wing backs at the Pirelli Stadium, did in fact pull further clear of the relegation zone, with the gap now standing at five points, but they have now played a game more than Crawley in 21st, who called their game off at home to Charlton less than 20 minutes before kick-off.
Despite describing the goals Posh conceded as ‘absolutely appalling’ and insisting his side had two ‘absolutely stonewall’ penalties turned down, Ferguson did have praise for his side for not going under and fighting back to claim a point. A point that put an end to a run of six consecutive League One defeats away from home.
Ferguson said: “When it went to 2-0, it affected us and the goal Archie got was a big boost for us. After that, we absolutely dominated the game. Manny gets us back level and I’m thinking, go on and win it.
“We were pushing and pushing so I can’t fault their endeavour. The players resolved to fight their way back into it and when we got the equaliser I thought we would go onto win it and I can’t fault their commitment to keep fighting back. A lot of teams in our position would probably have gone under at 2-0. We didn’t lose belief though and we kept playing the way I wanted us to play. It’s still a really disappointing result though.
“This season has been a huge frustration. It’s so frustrating managing this team, but it’s a challenge and in a sort of sick way I am quite enjoying that challenge because it’s a different one for me. We have to just keep working and working and hope you see the improvement.
"You can see it in training, but when it comes to a game, you can’t go and put them in the position they need to be in. It’s just these moments in games. When the ball goes into the box, mark your man, that’s it. Do it and if you can’t, what do you want me to do?
"I’ve seen enough today to suggest the players are up for it though. The formation change was made because I have to try different things. I wanted to play more like ourselves by creating chances and dominating the ball. A large part of that was good.
“A lot of the game was what I expected it to be. We dominated the ball, we created chances and we got a lot of crosses into the box. We went with one full back, one winger at wing back, but we ended up with two wingers so we couldn’t do any more to try and win the game.
“We controlled possession, we dominated the ball and got a lot of opportunities and got Cian in one-on-ones, but unfortunately, whatever I’m trying is not getting the results we need.
“My players have shown the endeavour the needed to show today. They’ve shown themselves to be a team that still believes. The most important thing is that we still created chances. If you lose that, then it is a problem.
“We created a lot of chances and scored two goals. We can see the problem and we’re doing all we can to solve. I’ve got to support the players and we have to keep working with them and hope we see potential become reality. We are just seeing potential and that is not enough.
“The subs did well, they made an impact. Abraham Odoh gave them a real problem. The corner for the equaliser came from him taking a man on.
“I’ve already got in trouble for saying the referee against Barnsley should be embarrassed, but there were two absolutely stonewall penalties we don’t get. In any other place on the pitch, they are fouls. The one in the second half is the most blatant.
“We just have to keep showing the fight and endeavour as we are in a real scrap there’s no doubt about that. We’ve only got ourselves to blame. It was another fantastic turnout from the fans. They are not happy, they are getting frustrated, they haven’t seen us like this, but even today, although they won’t be happy with the result and lots of thing, they can at least see a team that are having a go.
Posh travel to Wrexham, a side Darren Ferguson played over 300 matches for, on Saturday (January 4). They sit third but were beaten 2-1 at Barnsley on Wednesday.