Peterborough United manager ‘devastated’ as he brands Cardiff thrashing a ‘complete embarrassment to the club’

Posh delivered a shocking display after falling behind in just four minutes.

Ferguson tried a host of formations, including 3-5-2, 4-4-2 and the midfield diamond, but nothing seemed to have any effect.

Ferguson said: “I’m devastated. It was a humiliation and a complete embarrassment to the club. To perform at the level in a game of that magnitude will never, ever be acceptable. I cannot take one positive out of that. I could have made two subs after 25 minutes. It was an unbelievable performance.

“I have to apologise to the fans because that was an absolute embarrassment. It’s the only way I can describe it.

“It could have been four of five after 20 minutes, I could make a sub, but I’ve got so many players that can’t last 90 minutes.

“From top to bottom, in terms of the fundamentals, they annihilated us. To see a performance like that is worrying.”

Posh did not lose ground to immediate safety after Reading were beaten 2-1 at Bristol City, but that proved to be no consolation for Ferguson who sent his side out after just 10 minutes of the half-time break.

Ferguson added: “I can’t repeat what I said to them at half-time. We changed formation three or four times. I’m trying everything I can to improve results and it’s just not working at the moment and it lies with me.

“You have to show bloody fight and be professional and yes again, I’ll take responsibility, but these players have to take some responsibility for that performance. Watching people just run past them and beat them up, it was absolute nonsense.

“We all knew this month was pivotal to the season, the biggest we’ve had since last April and we’ve started well in the cup and you think hopefully it’s not another false dawn, but the manner in which we lost was just simply not acceptable.”

Posh remain two points from safety with a game in hand on Reading, the team directly above them. Derby’s win last night moved them to within two points of Posh who have two games in hand.