Peterborough United centre-back on deserving a first clean sheet and possible naivety at set-pieces

The 22 year-old was a towering presence for Posh as they repelled attack after attack in the second-half of Saturday’s 1-0 League One defeat at Bolton Wanderers, helped by an outstanding display from goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic.

But Posh finally cracked deep into added time to concede a penalty for Ryan De Havilland pulling home forward Dion Charles to the ground from a corner. Bilokapic saved the spot-kick, but was powerless to stop the ball rebounding into the net off an onrushing home player. Posh remain the only team in League One yet to keep a clean sheet.

“We were all gutted,” Fernandez admitted. “It was heartbreaking for the game to end as it did. Nick was amazing. We couldn’t ask for any more from him and I’m not sure what more we could have done to get that first clean sheet. We showed great desire at the back. We blocked shots and stopped everything we could. We’ve had problems with our defensive displays, but a clean sheet was warranted against a good, physical team and we will get there eventually.”

Fernandez has become a threat at set-pieces this season. He’s scored three times and that desire to score means he tries to stay on his feet at all times despite the grappling tactics he faces from opponents.

“I don’t want to say anything that will get me into trouble,” Fernandez added. “I won’t go down because I want to win the header and score. Maybe that's naive from me, but if it’s a foul at one end it should be a foul at the other end. Maybe taking an opportunity to go down comes with experience.

"We didn’t have our best day at the top of the pitch, but we won’t win every game 5-1. Sometimes we need to keep it simple to make sure we are effective.”