Peterborough United manager is determined to pass his biggest test, plus team news for the game at Burton Albion

Posh have lost six of their last seven League One matches to slip to within four points of the relegation zone. A defeat at bottom club Burton Albion on New Year’s Day (3pm kick off) would really set the alarm bells ringing, but there would still no appetite for a change of manager, from the boss himself or his chairman.

Ferguson has delivered four promotions and two Wembley Final wins in his four spells as Posh boss. That record carries plenty of weight. It’s only seven months since Posh completed an outstanding season full of glorious football, although they go into the Burton game on the back of two poor home performances against Mansfield (0-3) and Barnsley (1-3).

"The first-half of the year was very good,” Ferguson said. “It’s been more of a challenge in the second-half which hasn’t surprised me. I called it my biggest challenge a few weeks back and that opinion hasn’t changed. It’s an unusual season for us at this level and the bottom line is this squad should not be in this position and I have a real determination to turn things around.

"There have been factors. Every team in League One would miss Kwame Poku, but I don’t use injuries as an excuse. It’s my job to overcome problems. We haven’t had our usual threat going forward in the last two games which is a worry because of our defensive issues.

“I’ve been looking at different patterns of play and we’ve had to try different things. Against Barnsley we changed formation which made us more solid and we wanted to start the game playing with less risk, but we carried on kicking the ball long for too long. We have to find a balance. We need to find some toughness, but we need to have the belief to stick with the style of play that suits us best.

"At the moment we don’t have the confidence to react well to conceding goals, but we saw a team against Barnsley that cares. We saw a team having a go.”

One of Burton’s two wins this season arrived at London Road at the start of December when Posh managed just one shot on target in 90 minutes. Burton haven’t won since, but they pushed Wrexham and Birmingham City hard in games recently and they gained an excellent 1-1 draw at Huddersfield Town last time out when they conceded an 89th minute equaliser.

Posh defender Harley Mills starts a three-match ban so will miss the trip to the Pirelli Stadium. Centre-back George Nevett is available after serving his one match ban against Barnsley. Experienced goalkeeper Jed Steer is available after injury, but is not expected to displace Nicholas Bilokapic, while Chris Conn-Clarke should keep Joel Randall out the team. Randall wasn’t even in the matchday squad for the Barnsley game.

“Chris is a very good player and a great character with a great personality,” Ferguson added. “He’s probably disappointed with the way he played against Barnsley as he probably tried too hard so he wasn’t always accurate. He did some good things though and I like the way his first instinct is to turn and look forward. Our forwards should enjoy playing with them as he has the ability to play the ball quickly which should suit the speed we have.

"Chris is different to Joel as a number 10 which is why we bought him. He will go hunting for the ball and he is very good in tight areas. We might have to use the wings tomorrow as teams won’t be allowing us much space through the middle. Burton have been very compact under an experienced new manager and they were excellent against Huddersfield. We will need to get our speed of play right.

“We have a couple of players who are showing fatigue. We will make a decision on them tomorrow. Jed Is available, but we have three good goalkeepers and Nick Bilokapic is far from the biggest problem we have.”