Peterborough United to tackle ‘strange’ Southend United

The Shrimpers visit the ABAX Stadium (March 23, 3pm) in a terrible run of form. They haven’t won a League One match since thumping Bradford City 4-0 away from home on January 19, a run of 10 matches.

But Ferguson’s men - five wins in 22 games - are hardly on a great run themselves.

“Southend are a strange team,” Ferguson added. “They seem capable of winning 4-0 or losing 4-0, although they’ve struggled more often than not lately.

“I’m surprised to see them so low in the table, but to be fair to Chris Powell he’s suffered because of a lot of injuries. They’ve had a lot of young players in the side and that can make things difficult.

“There are no easy games at this stage of the season though, particularly this season, as everyone seems to have something to play for.

“The last time I saw Southend play they came from 3-0 down to draw with Portsmouth so they have spirit as well as quality.”

Centre-back Ryan Tafazolli is expected to return to the Posh squad after missing last week’s defeat by Coventry because of illness. Siriki Dembele should also be back after recovering from ankle ligament damage.

Play-off rivals Coventry host Oxford on Saturdayw while Doncaster visit League One leaders Luton and Blackpool are at Bradford City.

Coventry’s final four away matches are very hard. They have yet to visit Barnsley, Sunderland, Portsmouth and Doncaster. The game at Doncaster is the final match of the season.

But Ferguson added: “We have to put our own house in order first and foremost. We can’t look at who the other teams are playing and try and work out if they’ll win or not.

“We have to start winning again. If we do that regularly we will have as good a chance as anyone of reaching sixth place.

“We’ve been on a terrible run of form for a long time, but Doncaster haven’t won in six matches and they and Coventry will drop points before the end of the season.”