Peterborough United manager hails high-class finishing, great goalkeeping and a massive impact from the substitutes’ bench

It looked like being a frustrating afternoon for Posh at the Weston Homes Stadium as they rarely looked like scoring against well-organised opposition.

But then midfielder Louis Reed blasted home his first goal of the season from 20 yards eight minutes from time before Ivan Toney struck his 10th goal of the campaign with a beautifully judged finish in the 88th minute to send Posh up to third place in League One.

Reed was later sent off, but Posh had already done enough to seal a fourth home win in a row in the league for the first time in four-and-a-half years.

“They were two high-class finishes,” Ferguson enthused. “Louis ran onto his and caught the ball perfectly and Ivan’s finish was just stunning. Ivan is a very good player for this level of football. We are very lucky to have him.

“Louis has also been playing very well so it was a shame we will now lose him for the game at Gillingham next week. It looked a harsh red card, but we can’t appeal two yellow cards.

“It had been a frustrating afternoon for us. We knew that Lincoln would sit deep and try and stop us playing between the lines and we didn’t pass the ball quickly enough or play with enough aggression to get them under pressure. It was always going to be a hard game. It was a derby against a good side after all.

“We tried to get Marcus Maddison wide and we did that well, but his quality was off in the first half. We were much better in the second-half and dictated a lot of the play. We deserved to win. We kept our discipline well when we didn’t have the ball.”

Ferguson was delighted with the impact of substitute Siriki Dembele and with two top saves from goalkeeper Christy Pym, who has come under fire from some quarters recently. The manager was also pleased with the performance of the back four and goalkeeper who kept a clean sheet against dangerous opponents.

“Christy has made a couple of mistakes recently and he has to deal with that,” Ferguson added. “And the best way to do that is to play well and he made two excellent saves today which were both crucial.

“If we had fallen behind on the stroke of half-time it would have been difficult for us against a team who play well on the break and the one at the end was a fantastic stop. If we’d have conceded then with six minutes or so to go it would have been very for us, especially with 10 men.

“The back four were very good today though. It’s a very important win for us because we missed a great chance to go up to third last week and we can’t keep missing those opportunities. With other teams not playing today it was a great chance to move up the table and we took it.

“Siriki changed the game for us. The way the game was going I felt we needed more width and he gave us that as well as a real threat going forward. He’s had to be patient, but he was excellent today.

“George Boyd did a good job as a ‘10’ as well. With Dembele and Maddison out wide you need a hard-worker in the middle of them and George played the role perfectly.

“Good home form is vital if you want to be successful and for whatever reason we haven’t seen that here in recent seasons. Now we need to improve away from home.”

Posh will drop down a place to fourth if Coventry win at home to Tranmere tomorrow (October 13).