Peterborough United skipper insists he was never going to leave the club in the lurch

The 23 year-old midfielder has been the subject of much speculation in the last month with Championship sides Swansea City and Watford showing plenty of interest in a player whose Posh contract is up at the end of the current season.

Posh turned a deadline day bid down from Watford and Kyprianou was happy with that decision. He returned to the starting line-up, and was restored as captain, for the Tuesday night Vertu Trophy quarter-final win over Cheltenham Town at the Weston Homes Stadium. Kyprianou opened the scoring in a 3-2 success, although Posh had to come back from a 2-1 half-time deficit, something they managed after dumping a wing-back formation and by making four half-time substitutions.

Posh v Cheltenham report

Kyprianou now hopes moving within a win of Wembley will give Posh the momentum to improve their League One form. Posh are within five points and two places of the drop zone.

“I kind of made it clear to the gaffer that I didn’t want to leave the club with the position we are in," Kyprianou told the Posh Plus service. “That wouldn’t have sat well with me. It wouldn’t have felt right if I had left now. There now won’t be any speculation about any of us and we can focus on playing and try and kick on in the league. I want to bring my qualities to the fore and help the team.

“We’ve had a tough couple of weeks, but the Trophy games can be perfect to gain momentum. The lads were buzzing after the game to be so close to Wembley again. It should be a big confidence boost for us.

"It’s an unusual challenge for us in the league, but it’s one we all have to embrace. The manager showed us the league table and told us that is what’s really important. We have 17 games left and we find ourselves in a mini league and we need to win it.

“We still want to make the fans proud of us. They are not happy with us right now and that’s understandable, and it’s up to us players to dig the club out of trouble. We need to do better to make sure the fans stay behind us because their support is crucial. It’s a very young squad who can lack confidence so good support is a big help. Tonight we could hear the support and it definitely helped us.

"We were massively frustrated at half-time. We should have played the formation much better than we did. We are all good enough to make it work. We tried to remain positive at half-time and the subs certainly made an impact. We started the half really well which gave us the momentum to kick on and win the game. The subs gave us energy and pace. It’s a midfielder’s dream to play with players like that and I was pleased Ricky-Jade Jones scored the winning goal as he works hard for us up there.”

Abraham Odoh also scored for Posh. Jones now has 15 goals in all competitions this season. Posh are next in League One action at Charlton Athletic on Tuesday (February 11).