Peterborough United boss rues lack of ruthlessness that left Posh hanging on in Fleetwood win that should have been 'very comfortable'

Posh were forced to rely on a couple of strong second half saves from Nicholas Bilokapic to preserve the 1-0 lead given to them by Archie Collins in the first half.

Both before and after Collins’ long range effort, Posh spurned a number of opportunities to make the result more comfortable.

Regardless, Posh’s victory moved them up to second place after rivals Bolton were beaten 2-1 at home by Bristol Rovers following a red card for for former Posh defender Ricardo Santos and Stevenage could only draw 1-1 with 10-man Exeter.

But Ferguson said: “It should have been at least three after 10 minutes. We started the game how I wanted, with authority, and we’ve just got to be more ruthless.

“We’ve done it at times at home when we’ve gone and blown teams away, but away from home, we haven’t done it. It’s more important away from home, especially against a team that are not in great form. If we got that second goal, it would have killed the game.

"It wasn’t comfortable towards the end, big Nick has had to make a couple of big saves. I was right behind it when the winger who had just come on hit a hell of an effort, I thought it was in. We were hanging on a bit in the end in a game we should have won very, very comfortably.

“Our first half performance up to the final bit, was very good and it’s enjoyable to watch. You just wish we were a bit more ruthless in certain games, today was one of those days.

“The goal came at the right time. At that point, I didn’t want half time, but we started the second half very strong. The save off Ricky’s header? I could be really critical and say he’s got to score because he’s three yards out, but the save is incredible. If that goes in, we would have won a lot more comfortably.

“Everyone was in agreement that their goalkeeper kept them in it. That’s what we need to learn and it’s easier to learn these sorts of lessons when you win a game though. We’d have all been gutted if we’d have not won that game.

“I’m pleased though that it’s a clean sheet and another away win. The clean sheets are going to be key and if we get as many as I hope we can - that’s ten today - then we are going to have a bit of a chance.

“We did limit them, but towards the end, the wind was swirling and they were crosses coming into our box from corners. We handled them fine, but they were putting everyone on Nick, but we dealt with it. Most teams are bigger than us so that’s something we have to deal with.

“We dug in and got the win we deserved.”

Posh are on the road next Saturday when they travel to Shrewsbury for their final game before Christmas. The Shrews were beaten 3-0 at home by Portsmouth on Saturday and have still only scored 13 goals in 22 games, despite sitting 13th.