Peterborough United manager keeps the faith in his players and the team's style of play

Ferguson was frustrated by the lack of control his side offered in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Wycombe Wanderers at the Weston Homes Stadium.

There were also some alarming defensive moments in that game with goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic guilty of some careless moments when trying to play out from the back.

But Ferguson insists the Posh style of play won’t change and he expects his players to adapt to, and cope with, different scenarios as a game unfolds.

Bilokapic is expected to keep his place for the League One trip to Port Vale on Tuesday (7.45pm kick off). Ferguson is banned from the dugout for the game after collecting a third yellow card of the season on Saturday.

Fergie banned

"For the first time this season we had hardly had any control at any time during a game on Saturday,” Ferguson said. “It was disappointing and frustrating to see us stop doing what we work on every day.

"The way we play won’t change. We recruited for a particular style of play and the players enjoy it.

"I did expect this season to have to use my experience a lot, just because we have such a young group of players.

"Some players need an arm around their shoulders, while others need a kick up the backside, but what we mustn’t do is panic when we have a bad display.

"It’s important to note the performance of Nicholas was fine on Saturday. He made two important saves, but he knows he must tidy up his distribution.

"He needs to manage a game better which will come the more he practices and the more he plays.

"The team could also help him out better. We do a lot of tactical work, but the players are not robots. They have the freedom to play and make their own decisions when a game-plan isn’t working.”

Ferguson is encouraged by the return to form of Ephron Mason-Clark who scored a brilliant goal against Wycombe.

"He had two assists in the previous game before his fantastic goal on Saturday,” Ferguson said. “It’s good to see him getting back up to speed.

"He looks like he’s enjoying his football again. He’s a very exciting talent and it’s important we get him going at his best consistently.

"It’s a big pitch tomorrow which you would think would suit us with the pace we have in the team, but Vale are a good side. They are very aggressive with lots of energy and dominated Portsmouth for a half recently.

"We will need to be very good on the ball.”

Ferguson’s first game of his fourth spell in charge of Posh was a 2-0 win at Vale last January when Mason-Clark scored both goals.

After a strong start to the season Vale have slipped to 14th, but are just four points behind fifth-placed Posh.

Vale drew 0-0 at Stevenage on Saturday. That was a fourth League One game in a row without a goal, but it was a first point during that run.