Peterborough United manager expects a reaction after Boxing Day tonking

The mess of a display that led to a 3-0 tonking at home to Mansfield Town on Boxing Day resulted in strong post-match words from manager Darren Ferguson and a thorough debrief ahead of another tough game against aggressive opponents.

The Tykes, like Posh play-off losers in both of the last two seasons, are seventh after a fine 2-1 win at Bolton Wanderers on Boxing Day. That was a seventh away win in 11 games for Barnsley which is the third best record in the division after top two Wycombe Wanderers and Birmingham City.

"Barnsley are a good side,” Ferguson said. “They are tough and aggressive and they will probably take plenty from our performance on Boxing Day so it’s up to us to change the narrative. It’s good for us to play so quickly after such a poor performance, but we will only make it good by getting the right result.

"We had a good debrief after the Mansfield game and, I know it’s a cliche, but we have get back to doing the basics right. For a start we have to show more determination to get a result. We didn’t do that against Mansfield. It has to be said they were very good at what they did and we didn’t have an answer. There are right and wrong ways to lose a game and we definitely lost it in a bad way. A performance like that can never be acceptable.

"First and foremost you always have to compete and we didn’t. We didn’t stop the crosses coming into the box – they sent 40 crosses in which is far too many – and we didn’t win any 50-50s or individual duels. You have to pick players up at set pieces and you have to avoid getting blocked off. It was a poor effort on the ball as well as when we did beat the press the ball didn’t stick.

"We are suffering too many momentum-killing moments. We started the game badly conceding a corner in the first minute and then conceding a goal to the first quality cross they delivered. It was a mess in the first-half from our point of view.

“I’ve been chopping and changing to find the best solution and it’s now important I try and give a young group of players some positivity.”

Left-back Rio Adebisi has been ruled out for the season, but striker Bradley Ihionvien should be back in the matchday squad tomorrow.