Peterborough United boss proud of his players, but admits a draw with Cardiff City feels like a defeat

Posh striker Jonson Clarke-Harris shoots at the Cardiff goal. Photo: David Lowndes.

Posh led 2-0 entering the final 10 minutes of the game before the visitors hit back, finally equalising in the 95th minute.

Harrison Burrows and Siriki Dembele both scored for the second successive match, but Posh were hampered by unavailabilities - summer signing Jorge Grant missed this match because of an ankle problem - and three key men in Mark Beevers, Siriki Dembele and Jonson Clarke-Harris were unable to see out the match.

But Ferguson was proud of the performance of his players. Posh are 14th in the early Championship table with four points from three games.

Siriki Dembele of Peterborough United gets away from Perry Ng of Cardiff City. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

“Cardiff know they were lucky tonight,” Ferguson said. “It feels raw right now. It feels like a defeat and I won’t feel any differently in the morning. I doubt I will sleep tonight.

“The players should be proud of their performance though. We were very good tonight. It was just a shame we couldn’t see the game out, but sometimes that happens.

“We should have killed the game off at 2-1 and that cost us in the end. When you play against a team like this who just keep sending bigger players on it is tough, They are hard to stop, but we got suckered into diving in at the death and they had people queueing up at the far post to score the equaliser.

“We had defended so well until then. My three centre-halves won every header and they also started many attacks which we’d worked on. We outnumbered them in midfield and we scored two very good goals.

Jack Marriott of Peterborough United puts pressure on Sean Morrison of Cardiff City. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

“We worked on quick combinations in and around the penalty area as we felt we could trouble their defenders and Harrison shifted the ball onto his right foot and finished well.

“The second goal was an outstanding counter attack, but we stopped passing the ball so well and we lost Jonson who was our outlet. He had to come off when he did. I’m amazed he’s played so much given how little he played in pre-season.

“We will be competitive in this league though. We need to be consistent and play with our brains when he had the ball and be tough when we haven’t got it. We did both of those things well tonight.”

Posh are nect in action at bottom club Preston North End on Saturday (August 21). Preston have lost all three of their Championship games so far this season.