Peterborough United manager backs his misfiring stars to come good, starting at Portsmouth

In particular forward Sammie Szmodics who has scored one League One goal all season, in the final minute of the second game of the campaign against Fleetwood at the Weston Homes Stadium on September 19.

Since hitting the top of the table with a 2-0 win at Bristol Rovers on November 3, Posh have won one and lost three of their four League One matches to slip to third and they will fall further if they go down at Fratton Park.

It’s form that’s led to some strong criticism from Posh fans.

Ferguson said: “Football is a passionate game. The supporters want to see their team winning and if we accept the praise when things are going well we have to accept the criticism when things aren’t going so well.

“At the moment we are having the sort of blip all teams have in a 46-game season.

“With the quality of player we have up front if we keep creating chances we will soon start converting them. We know Sammie Szmodics can score goals at this and things will go for him soon enough.

“We kmow we can keep clean sheets at this level and yet we have kept just one in our last seven matches. We’re letting too many soft goals in from set-pieces.

“But we must all just maintain our belief. We can’t let the actual results affect us too much. You cannot move away from what you believe in and we won’t. We haven’t become a bad team overnight. We are good enough to go on a good run again and it could start at Portsmouth.”