Peterborough United manager demands a bounce back after a grim Good Friday display

Posh delivered a dismal display as they went down 3-1 in a League One fixture at home to rock-bottom Carlisle United and now they need to climb a mountain just to get back into the race for automatic promotion.

Fourth-placed Posh are 10 points behind second-placed Derby County albeit with two games in hand ahead of a tricky Easter Monday match at Leyton Orient (3pm). Derby travel to leaders Portsmouth on Tuesday.

"It was that bad against Carlisle, it just has to be a one-off,” Ferguson said. “We’ve not seen that lack of quality all season, but it’s good to have another game so quickly so we can put it behind us by winning at Orient, although that won’t be be easy as they have done well this season.

"We have looked at the Carlisle game and we spoke about it briefly with the players. It’s a good time time to remind everyone that, outside of our building, we have exceeded expectations. People were predicting a mid-table finish, but here we are with seven games to go, fourth in the league and with a cup final to come. We can also still get into the top two, although that’s become very difficult, but we will have a go.

"There will always be blips in season and we had a big one on Friday and the players have to take some responsibility for the way we played in the final 25 minutes. That’s not how we play. We don’t just smash the ball up front, but we’ve responded well to some setbacks this season and we must do it again by delivering a level of performance that gives us a chance to win.”

Ferguson will make changes for the game at Orient. Former ‘Os’ player Hector Kyprianou will most likely return to the centre of midfield after completing a two-match suspension. Ricky-Jade Jones and on-loan right winger Michael Olakigbe could also start against a team who are four places and six points outside the play-off places after a 1-0 defeat at rampant Lincoln City on Friday.

"There will be changes,” Ferguson added. “It’s more psychological tiredness than physical fatigue at this time of the season, but we will need to be at our best on Monday. We didn’t play well against Orient at home after I switched to a midfield diamond which didn’t work, but they play more football now and they have good players who carry the ball well at the top end and two decent wide players.

“There’s always a good atmosphere there and we will have 1,200 fans so hopefully we can give them a performance and show Friday was a one-off.”