Peterborough United manager reflects on '15 minutes of carnage' during Derby County defeat

Ferguson was prevented from giving his immediate post-match thoughts by EFL rules on Saturday because he received a red card midway through the second-half.

The boss has yet to reveal his opinion on that incident, but he did deliver his verdict on a second successive League One defeat for his team

Posh led the Rams through a Jonson Clarke-Harris goal, but then conceded four times in the last 16 minutes of the first half.

"It was a very good game between two very good teams who had a right go at each other,” Ferguson stated.

"For 30 minutes we were very good and should really have put the game to bed with the chances we created, a bit like the game at Northampton the week before.

"But then there were 15 minutes of carnage when they scored some awful goals from our point of view.

"They were ruthless and we weren’t and it cost us the game, but there’s no need to panic.

"Credit to the players for not going under. I asked them at half-time to win the second-half and they did.

"The game was realistically over at half-time and we needed to score quickly in the second-half to have any chance, but the players at least ploughed on.

"It’s important to learn quickly from the last two games, but I honestly feel we could have won all five matches.”

Posh are 10th in League One, but just three points off top spot ahead of a tough game at unbeaten Portsmouth on Saturday.

Posh are also at Fratton Park on Tuesday for a second round Carabao Cup tie (7.45pm) when Ferguson will not start any of the players who started against Derby.

A new XI