Peterborough United fell well below expected standards in Charlton Athletic draw but Darren Ferguson still thought his side could have won

Darren Ferguson admitted that his Posh side fell well below the levels he expectes of them as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by mid-table Charlton.

Posh ended the night eight points off the play-offs thanks to Derby’s 2-0 win over Cheltenham that took them back above Barnsley into fifth but were perhaps glad to take a point from a match in which they played with ten men for over 40 minutes, including stoppage time.

The decision of referee Andrew Kitchen to send off Josh Knight but not Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, early in the second half, after the pair clashed, enraged Ferguson.

Following Saturday’s 5-2 demolition of Plymouth, Ferguson made one change to his line-up, bringing in Nathan Thompson for Harrison Burrows but Posh failed to recreate the heights from the Pilgrims game in what was a largely drab affair.

Ferguson said: “We felt that their left back would be right-footed and we wanted Ward to play against him and get crosses into the box. Normally they would go with two wide players and Thommo could look after them but they changed that.

“Hindsight is such a great thing, I wish I had changed more because we were off it. We were way off what I would expect from us. We were a yard short, we weren’t aggressive enough in the first half, we didn’t win enough balls and didn’t do the basics right.

“They’re human beings though, they’re not going to be at it every second of every game.

“The lads knew that- sometimes it just happens- but we managed to make it to half time at 0-0 albeit Will has had one save to make all game.

“At half time I said we needed to lift certain areas, our fullbacks needed to get out more, we needed to get more energy in the team and get the basics right.

“I’m not a massive fan of making half time subs but I did have it in my mind to change the formation and make subs if we didn’t start the game right but of course, I had to change my thinking completely.

“We started the second half well but the referee takes away any real contest with a decision like that.

“The players were brilliant, you can’t criticise them, they gave it absolutely everything. I thought we were going to nick it at the end. The lads dug in, we effectively played 40 minutes with ten men against a good team.”

Posh face perhaps the toughest possible test in League One on Saturday and they travel to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday. The Owls haven’t lost a league match since October 4.

Defeat could see Posh drop as low as tenth after Portsmouth moved to within three points on Tuesday with an impressive 3-1 win over Bolton from 1-0 down.