Peterborough United showed the battling qualities required to stay in the race for promotion from League One
Experienced Peterborough United goalkeeper Jed Steer praised his battle weary teammates after a gruelling 1-0 derby win at Cambridge United on Saturday.
Posh had to withstand a very aggressive approach from the hosts before claiming a first League One win in six matches, one that moved them up a place to fifth.
Ephron Mason-Clark scored a rather fortunate winning goal 10 minutes into the second-half as his cross found its way into the corner of the Cambridge net.
Steer had to make a couple of decent save in the first-half before claiming a second clean sheet in a row.
“It’s always nice to make saves,” Steer said. “But it is my job. The first one was just a reaction save and the second one I had to get down to my left, but I wasn’t overly-tested as the rest of the team protected me pretty well.
"They threw a few long balls at us in the second half, but the centre halves headed them away and the whole team defended well when they had to. As a team we sat down and said we had been conceding far too many goals and we worked on it, put a few things in place and we’ve reaped the benefits in the last two games.
"We have to win the battle before playing our nice silky football and the lads were showing cuts and bruises on shins in the dressing room after the game and that sort of commitment is what you need to win matches.
"They did press us well in the first-half, but we have front players who can exploit space so we weren’t too concerned.”
None of the top three won on Saturday meaning Posh have cut the deficit to the automatic promotion places to seven points. It’s still a tough ask to bridge that sort of gap, as well as three of the four teams above them, but Steer has experience of big form fluctuations.
He also insists a Wembley Final at the beginning of April will not deflect Posh from their primary aim.
"We have just enjoyed a really good few days,” Steer added. “We have parked Wembley so we can focus on the league. We need to get promoted. That’s the aim now..
“We have a lot of midweek games to play so it will be hectic, but players love playing all the time and we have a young side that can recover quickly.
"When I was at Villa we won about one game in 12 and then won 10 in a row so strange things can happen.”
Steer spent a month on loan at Cambridge in the 2012-13 season.