Peterborough United manager proud of his side's strength of character in battling Mansfield victory

Posh were second best for most of the match at the One Call Stadium, but were 2-1 victors thanks to goals from Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Harry Leonard in the second half. Posh had to work hard to hang onto their lead in the closing stages as Mansfield applied serious pressure, particularly after George Abbott pulled a goal back with six minutes of normal time to play.

The win means that Posh have closed the gap to Saturday’s opponents Bradford City in the final play-off place to five points, albeit the Bantams have played two games fewer. The gap to the bottom four has now grown to 12 points.

Williams was gushing with praise for his players for the way they stood up to such strong opponents in difficult conditions and were clinical with their chances whey they arrived.

Williams said: “I’m very proud of the players because it was as tough a game as we have had. The opposition were absolutely brilliant and were a joy to watch on a difficult pitch with the way they shifted the ball around. I couldn’t be more proud of the boys because of the way they stood up to everything.

“They managed to keep themselves in the game and then go and score two goals after spending a lot of the game on the backfoot.

“There were headers and blocks at the end, people not turning their backs on the ball. Brandon Khela has blocked a shot like a rocket and was limping around at the end but refused to give in. Every single one of them was involved in a big defensive action and had to put their body on the line. I can’t speak more highly of them

“We scored two brilliant goals. The pass from Cian, for the first, was excellent and then Jimmy is a class act.

“Harry Leonard is great number nine. He takes a moment and puts the ball in the worst possible place for the goalkeeper. We are very fortunate. It was a brilliant press for the second as well. Brandon was really calm and slots the pass perfectly for Harry to do the rest.

“The opposition threw absolutely everything at us in the first half and the fact they didn’t make a breakthrough probably knocked the stuffing out of them. We just would not surrender and you can only apply pressure for so long in any game before you’re going to be on the receiving end and we capitalised on our moments.

“If a team is going to be successful, it needs to have strength of character and depth of character in bad moments. This is a tough place to play against a really good and experienced team, as good a manager as you’ll ever find, tough conditions and we stood up to all of that.

“The players are showing they can rise above and the crowd here are very vocal, they were building pressure upon pressure and they stood up to it. It’s excellent for the future.”

Posh travel to Valley Parade on Saturday (February 14, 3pm) to take on a Bradford side struggling for form. Graham Alexander’s men have won one and lost four of their last five matches.