Peterborough United's maturity pleased Darren Ferguson as he learnt plenty about his side's character in Stevenage draw

Two pieces of sloppy defending from pretty ordinary Dan Butler crosses saw Luther -James Wildin and former Posh man Ben Thompson consigned Fergie’s team to a two-goal deficit at the break.

But Posh fought back in the second half with backheel finishes from both Joel Randall and Ricky-Jade Jones to claim a League One point at the home of a promotion rival.

Posh could have leapfrogged Steve Evans’s side into fourth with victory, but remain a point behind in fifth while Derby County closed to within two points in sixth with a 1-0 victory at Port Vale.

Leaders Bolton and third-placed Oxford played out a 0-0 draw, while second-placed Portsmouth won 2-0 at Burton.

Ferguson was pleased to see his side follow his instructions in the second half and to keep playing as they had in the first half.

Ferguson said: “We wanted to win the game coming into it, but when you’re 2-0 down, it was important we showed what we did in the second half. The players stayed calm, they showed great belief and kept doing what we planned and eventually they get the rewards.

“I said to them at half time, tonight isn’t going to decide the season, but it will tell us a little bit about ourselves. You’re going to suffer in games over the course of the season so I just said to them, just keep doing what you’re doing, don’t change a thing and keep believing that we’re going to get something out of this game.

“We got the goal quite early and I had to calm them down again from all their youthful excitement. Then we got the equaliser and the message was just stay calm. It was a really, really good performance from my team.

“Obviously, the decision making for the goals we conceded was poor. What we did show though was real character to get back into the game. Most teams who go 2-0 down here get swallowed up.

"They bring in ready-made players who have played hundreds of games whereas we are the opposite. My team showed a real maturity tonight.

“We cut them open and had three really good chances before they scored and then at the first real sign of danger, has our goalkeeper made the right decision? Probably not and the boy has whacked it in.

“Then the second one is a clearance. We needed to be calm and more composed with our clearances, but Thommo (Ben) has smashed it in. I was pleased to get to half time at 2-0, I was fine with that. The message was simple, you’re good enough to get back in this game.

“I told the players, we’re going to have to pass a big test tonight and let’s see if we’re up for it. I told them the one thing I didn’t want was for them to start running all over the place and for it to become 3-0 or 4-0.

“Even if we’d have got beaten 2-0, I wouldn’t have been happy, but the one thing I didn’t want was to start losing goals left right and centre.

“In terms of chances and stats, we’re the dominant team, but at the end of the day, we were 2-0 down at half time and we had to dig deep to get something out of the game.”

Posh now take a break from league action with two cups games, at home to Doncaster on Saturday in the FA Cup and home again to Arsenal U21 in the EFL Trophy next Tuesday.