Peterborough United midfielder credits momentum from EFL Trophy semi-final win for Cambridgeshire derby victory

In the process of booking a Wembley appearance on Tuesday night, Posh also ended a five-match winless run in all competitions.

They also managed to translate that winning feeling back into the league from on Saturday and end a run of four straight defeats that has seen them fall behind in the automatic promotion race.

Ephron Mason-Clark’s second half cross that found its way into the bottom corner was enough for Posh to secure a 1-0 victory and a league double over their rivals.

The win delighted Posh star Archie Collins, although he was slightly disappointed to not get on the scoresheet himself, when he curled a first half effort from Joel Randall’s cut-back onto the top of the bar.

He also challenged his teammates to keep the winning momentum going to relaunch the Posh promotion push.

Collins said: “Everyone is happy we got the result. We could have made it more comfortable for ourselves but the most important thing is we dug in at the end and got the three points we needed.

"There was a different feeling and belief in the camp on Tuesday going into that game and I felt that same thing before the game today and we’ve got to keep providing that. We’re a young group, but we’re all excited and it’s very enjoyable when it’s going right and we’ve just got to keep that going.

"It was a local derby wo it was always going to be frantic and we just had to get through that opening period to be able to let what we do shine through. The more the game went on, the more belief we had and the more confidence we took and our game came through in the end.

“Cambridge are a good team out of possession and are hard to break down, but we had chances to get two or three goals and they didn’t go in. We’ll look at that and move on.

“I should have put us ahead. I don’t know what happened, my legs just went right at the time I didn’t want them to and I kind of scuffed it. As soon as I hit it, I knew it wasn’t going it, it didn’t feel right. I don’t get many opportunities like that so it’s frustrating I didn’t take it.

“We spoke about patience and continuing to believe at half time. We knew we had to keep doing the basics right and we were pretty calm.

“It doesn’t matter how the goal went in, you take them, and lately that kind of thing has been going against us. We don’t care.

“Things have been going against us recently, that’s no excuse but that’s football. We’ve got to keep our mental strength and keep believing in what we do.”

Posh host Exeter City next Saturday, the former club of Collins and Joel Randall.