Peterborough United boss sings the praises of his players...two of them in particular

Goalkeeper Jed Steer, who kept a second clean sheet in succession, and forward Ricky-Jade Jones were the men to really enthuse Ferguson during an impressive team performance. Posh jumped up three places to 15th – one more goal and they would have been 14th – and scooted nine points clear of the relegation zone with nine games to go. Jones was going to start this game even before Brad Ihionvien was pulled out with a hip injury this morning.

Sam Hughes, Abraham Odoh and Malik Mothersille scored the goals for Posh. Mothersille is now the club’s top scorer in League One with 11 goals. He now has 18 goal contributions and his seven assists is the second best tally in the division.

Ferguson said: “Malik has been very good in his position as a number 10, but I’m glad he scored as missed a couple of great chances before that. It was a very pleasing display and one that featured many very good performances, against a very good and a very in-form team.

"We did the basics really well. We defended well and our goalkeeper was outstanding. He caught so many crosses and his distribution was outstanding as he started many counter attacks. That had to be one of his best performances for us. The three January signings have all made a big difference to us and Ricky-Jade Jones gave us his best game of the season.

"I felt this was a game for him because of his pace. He’s such a threat when he doesn’t over-complicate things. He was running, pressing and sliding for 90 minutes. Cian Hayes and Carl Johnston were also outstanding after coming on as substitutes.

"We were without Hector Kyprianou and Tayo Edun as well, but Mo Susoho and Harley Mills were very good.”