Peterborough United 'will take a lot out of' Birmingham match despite defeat

In the early stages, Posh looked as if they could be on course for a famous League One win when they raced into the lead thanks to goals from Ricky-Jade Jones and Emmanuel Fernandez.

They were pegged back though in the first half by Willum Willumsson before an unfortunate second half which saw a wayward Jay Stansfield effort deflect in off Oscar Wallin and Krystian Bielik complete the turnaround by converting a cross with his elbow.

The result saw Posh’s three-game unbeaten run come to and end as they slipped down to 12th in the table.

While obviously disappointed to lose such a lead, Darren Ferguson was keen to focus on some of the positives that his side can take out of the game.

He did then go onto reveal that Joel Randall had been taken out of the first team group due to his poor attitude in relation to being unhappy at the club.

He said: “It’s a big disappointment. We were two goals ahead so you’re going to be disappointed but we have to take a lot out of this game.

“We got a brilliant start and the gameplan was going really well, we worked on pressing high up the pitch. It paid dividends and it made everyone nervy.

“Ricky does it better than anyone and we got a goal from it and then we got a long overdue goal from a set-piece. You can’t stop Manny, we’ve been waiting for that delivery and that header. You have to look at Arsenal and how they do it, there’s nothing wrong with trying to copy it. If you get it to him, he will score and he did.

“There couldn’t be a better start but then we’ve conceded a really poor goal. There was then a period where we had to contain them but our goalkeeper didn’t make any real saves. The first goal came at a good time for them

“I could have taken Ricky off at half time, he was struggling but the running he does is incredible. He just couldn’t keep doing it all game though and it’s unfair of me to ask him, it’s just running more of a risk of an injury and we’ve got another game on Tuesday.

“We wanted to start the second half well, you need a bit of luck and we didn’t get it; Stansfield’s shot is going miles wide.

“From that point on, at 2-2, that was our best period of the game. We got a lot more control and that’s where, as a player, if you want to play at a higher level than this, you have to concentrate but we don’t. We switched off.

“After that, it was always going to be a struggle as we had to go chasing it and physically we couldn’t really do it, we were empty.

“We came here and wanted to have a go at them and we did, we didn’t want to sit in too much and wanted to be on the front foot if we could. We’re not going to play this team every week.

“Credit to them, they’ve recruited well, they’ve got some really outstanding players for this level. We didn’t want to just sit there and let them win the game comfortably. They knew they were going to be in for a tough game and we gave them one.”

Posh are on the road for a third consecutive game on Tuesday night when they take on Wigan. The Latics played out a goalless draw with Exeter on Saturday and sit 16th.