Peterborough United need to make their move now or forget about promotion from League One

The December programme for Posh opens on Wednesday when rock-bottom Burton Albion visit the Weston Homes Stadium for a League One game. Posh, who are 13th, six points off a play-off place, then tackle local rivals Northampton Town (away, Dec 9), lowly Crawley Town (Dev 14), high fliers Stockport County (away, Dec 20), a fading Mansfield Town team (home, Boxing Day) and regular League One promotion candidates Barnsley (home, Dec 29).

Holders Posh also host Cobblers in a Vertu Trophy tie on December 17. They complete their festive programme with a re-match with Burton at the Pirelli Stadium on New Year’s Day.

"December will be a crucial month,” Ferguson stated. “We have six League One games, four of them at home, and because of where we are currently sitting in the table, we have to string a consistent set of positive results together. By the end of this month we will only have 10 home games left so we need to be in a much better position than we are at the moment. We’ve certainly lost too many games already so it’s vital we now kick on.”