Peterborough United manager reads the riot act to his players during a dressing room lock-in

Ferguson admitted his side were well beaten at Fratton Park as they slipped to a fourth defeat in five League One matches. Posh are now fifth in League One, albeit level on points with third-placed Portsmouth.

Ferguson has called on his players to show some character and resolve to end their run of poor form.

Posh reverted to the midfield diamond for this game, but it didn’t inspire an improved performamce.

“What was said in the dressing room will stay in there,” Ferguson insisted. “We discussed certain things obviously, but the bottom line now is to start showing some character.

“We deserved to be beaten as we didn’t create enougn and we conceded another goal to a set-piece.

“We had no rhythm from the start. There wasn’t a lot between the teams in the first-half, but they got on top, got in front and we didn’t respond well enough.

“We have too many individuals out of form and our confidence has now been affected. This is now a big problem.

“Promotions are never easy and winning them is often down to how you respond to setbacks. We enjoyed an outstanding October, but since we lost at Crewe at the start of November we have played well in one game out of six.

“It’s now time we showed some mettle. We need to show some character and resolve and end this poor run of form, but then it’s easy to talk about it, we have to go out and do it.

“We’ve shown already this season we have the ability. The issue for me now is mental. We need to dig deep and start performing again.

“I started with the midfield diamond as we have lost our most natural wingbacks, but we didn’t play it well. To play it well you have to pass the ball well and we didn’t. We lacked composure. I’m frustrated as I know the players are better than they are showing. We are losing too many individual battles and we are losing games as a result.

“We have problems, but I am not panicking. We are conceding too many goals from set-pieces. In fact our set-piece play in both penalty areas has been poor.

“The seasin can go one of two ways now. If we don’t show the necessary character we won’t even be in the hunt for promotion this season.”