Peterborough United's players need to 'ride the storm' and show more conviction after latest League One defeat

Posh are now winless in five League One games and fell to a fourth straight defeat on Saturday afternoon, 2-1 at the hands of Blackpool at the Weston Homes Stadium.

Posh led at the break thanks to a Hector Kyprianou goal, but a penalty, needlessly conceded by goalkeeper Jed Steer, and a last-minute deflected strike enabled the visitors to take all three points. That winning goal could easily have been wiped out for offside.

Posh are now 10 points behind Derby in the final automatic promotion place and four points behind Barnsley in fourth. The Rams beat Stevenage 1-0 on Saturday, while Barnsley triumphed 2-1 away at Stevenage.

Oxford were held 0-0 by Wycombe, however, but Posh are just three points ahead of seventh place and now just six ahead of Blackpool in eighth.

Ferguson, who started a two-game touchline ban so watched the match from the stands, said: “It’s a disappointment to lose another game and in the manner we lost it. We were in complete control until their first goal. We were totally dominant in the first half, but missed too many chances again and their equaliser changed the game after we had started the second half really well.

“We lost conviction and belief after that and started doing things we’d never normally do. We lost all composure for 10 or 15 minutes and didn’t create much at 1-1. They got on top of us.

“Then I was thinking, well we’ve got a point from not a great performance but, and that’s what happens when you’re going through a bad run, you lose a goal to a lucky deflection. When we’re winning games earlier in the season that probably doesn’t happen.

“We’ve got to ride the storm now, stick together and try and get that belief and conviction back into the squad.

“The players have to show more conviction in a game when things go against them.

“The penalty is the key moment. The decision-making in both boxes was not good enough. That’s always the key to winning and losing.

“The finishing was not good enough. We missed three one-on-ones which is just not good enough and then we concede poor goals.

"The second one you can’t do much about, but the first is a poor, poor decision. I haven’t seen it back, but he’s almost outside of the box.

“The league table is irrelevant to me though. The only thing I can concentrate on is Tuesday. I can’t start staring at the league table.

“When you lose four games on the bounce, you know there’s going to be a gap. I’m still confident we can have a very positive season.

“We’ve had a hell of a bad month, but with our run of fixtures, with five out of seven at home in March, we can have a really good month there.”

Posh return to action on Tuesday as they travel to face the same opposition in the EFL Trophy semi-final with a Wembley Final at stake.