Peterborough United boss won't be panicked into making major changes despite Saturday's horror show, but he demands more character and personality at Burton Albion

Ferguson was spooked by all aspects of the Posh performance as they crashed to a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Cheltenham Town on Saturday.

He labelled his players ‘unprofessional and ill-disciplined’ among other things. He was disturbed by how meekly they accepted defeat.

Posh would get to within six points of the play-off places with a win tomorrow and they would still have a game in hand on sixth-placed Bolton Wanderers so Ferguson believes there is still all to play for with 11 matches to go.

"All the words we used to describe Saturday’s performance were correct,” Ferguson insisted. “If you drop your standards that far you will get beaten and your fans will turn quickly on you which is what happened.

"To be fair that’s the first time in my 11 games back it’s happened. I know we lost by five against Bolton, but the performances weren’t that bad that day. That was a freak result.

"The Cheltenham game was different. Everything about us was off, physically and mentally. Mentality is a big thing for me and we showed a soft side to us that I didn’t like.

"We went through the game with the players on Sunday, but I said what I had to say after the game. I can’t keep repeating myself.

"I’m not panicking because I’m fully expecting it to be a one-off performance. It’s not my way to react by making seven or eight changes. I’d go in with the same team quite happily because they would not play in the same way.

"The players are not stupid and they will know that performance level was not acceptable.

"Anyone watching that game will rightly write our chances off this season, but we are still with a shout and we have to believe that.

"In a way playing at Burton is ideal after that game. I want us to show some character and personality and we won’t have any choice because Burton will launch balls into our penalty area with plenty of quality.

"But we also have to show composure and pass the ball quickly through them. We don’t want to get sucked into a game of long balls and second balls because that’s not us. We will have win tackles as it’s a small, tight pitch.

"Burton have done really well since January. They sold their best striker and brought players in on the back of that. It’s always a tough game at Burton no matter the situation.”

Posh midfielder Hector Kyprianou is a major doubt for Posh after suffering a kick on the ankle on Saturday.

Central defender Josh Knight is available again after completing a three-game suspension.

Burton will be without central defender Deji Oshilaja who was sent off as the Brewers beat another League One play-off hopeful Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday.