Peterborough United go into Birmingham clash as 'underdogs' but they are not unbeatable insists Darren Ferguson

The Blues, who have spent over £30m assembling their squad for League One, have started the campaign in strong form, winning five and drawing one of their opening six games.

Ferguson went as far as to say that he believes relegation was the best thing that could have happened to the club as it has allowed them to change the mood and rebuild.

Posh head into the match five points being the second-places Blues, in 8th place, but have played a game more.

Ferguson has told his players that they must improve on and off the ball from Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw at Leyton Orient and that they must head to St Andrew’s with confidence.

He said: “Sometimes, when you go out of a league, it can be seen as the worst thing that could happen but then, as everything settles down, it can be the best thing that can happen.

“That is the case with Birmingham, they were a club used to losing games, they went through that run but now you’ve got a massive mood swing, they’re appointed a young head coach and you can see they’re well coached with a clear identity of how they want to play.

“The relegation has been a good thing for the club as a whole and you would expect them be be around it but there no way I would describe them as unbeatable. We do need to put on a really strong performance though.

“The players have to go there and thrive on the atmosphere. We’re going to be massive underdogs so maybe it’s a game where we go there with a chance to relax and just play.

"The importance is how we play with and without the ball, we need to improve from midweek. At this level, we have played and beaten lots of big clubs and Birmingham are another one of those.

“More and more in League One we’re seeing these clubs that have been in the Premiership come in the the league so we’re becoming accustomed to it.

“We’ve beaten Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday 4-1 away, Leeds, Leicester big clubs. We have to go there and play with belief and personality. We need to take the ball and be confident and deal with the crowd early in the game. We’re facing probably the highest quality players in the league.”

Posh are expected to have Oscar Wallin available after he was withdrawn at half time against Orient after taking a knock to his hip. Ryan De Havilland completed 60 minutes for the U21s on the same night against Peterborough Sports but is expected to be a couple of weeks away from consideration as Posh look to get some 90 minutes matches into him for the reserves.