Peterborough United boss praised the ruthlessness and application of his players to win a crazy game in Crawley

Ricky-Jade Jones’ 96th minute penalty secured a dramatic 4-3 victory at a direct relegation rival after Abraham ‘Ibby’ Odoh had starred with a first half hat-trick, the first of his career. Odoh also won the spot-kick that Jones nervelessly despatched to move Posh up a place to 14th, still nine points clear of the relegation zone after Burton Albion’s win over Leyton Orient. It was the second 4-3 win for Posh over Crawley this season.

A third win in four League One games and just one defeat in their last 10 competitive matches sets Posh up nicely for Saturday’s League One derby against Northampton Town at the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday. Cobblers are just four points from safety after a 2-0 loss at home to Rotherham.

Ferguson said: “We’re trying to get as many points as we can, as quickly as we can. I think it will take a high number to stay up this year and we can’t do any more than we are doing at the moment. I can’t ask any more of the players in terms of effort, but we’ve got to keep it going, especially for a big game on Saturday.

“We were ruthless tonight and that hasn’t happened enough this season so that pleased me. We showed our character and we’re in a good place. That was a proper team effort and we left everything out there. I told them before that they had to that. I said we will need 15 players to get the win. When I have brought subs on lately, they have all been ready and they were again here.

“Both games against Crawley this season have been incredible. We had a lot more control at home. They are a hard team to play against because they’re very fluent and have a lot of movement. You can see in their attitude since the manager came back. They are carefree and just go for it. I knew we had to be good tonight and perhaps outscore them.

"The goals we conceded were poor, but we recovered well. Our first goal is outstanding, it was Ibby’s best with a first-time finish. We knew we could exploit the space on one wing when we had the ball on the other because of the way they play. We had to get our first pass off and then we got in behind them so many times.

“We started the second half so badly though. They had to go for it, but I don’t know how we’ve not scored through Archie Collins at 3-2 and at 3-3 we had three shots cleared off the line so I was thinking, please don’t be another game where we regret missing chances.

“We’ve let them back into the game thanks to a poor mistake from Malik Mothersille. That got everyone up, but we rode it out and got the win. The substitutes came on and were marvellous and gave us real energy. Cian was excellent and got us up the pitch. We were the ones that created more towards the end of the game.

“With Ricky, the boy is brave, and what a penalty it was. He was fully aware of how important that penalty was and it’s got us the win. You won’t find anyone who works harder than him. In the 90th minute, he’s still pressing the goalkeeper! He held the ball up brilliantly tonight and was a constant threat. He’s back to good form and he’s got his confidence back.”

Posh lost Sam Hughes to injury just after the hour mark, but Ferguson does not fear a serious injury for the centre-back. Ferguson added: “It’s nothing bad. He’s managing a situation and it’s flared up a bit, but Jadel went on and played well again.”