REACTION: Posh boss remains defiant despite another poor result and performance in the race for automatic promotion

Ferguson blasted his side’s defending as they blew a chance to catch Hull City at the top of League One They remain second, but five points from the last six matches has left them vulnerable to the chasing pack.

Posh conceded a first minute goal at Bloomfield Road and then two in the opening 15 minutes of the second-half after Joe Ward had equalised against the run of play in first-half added time.

Ferguson, who was cautioned late in the game for dissent towards referee Bobby Madley, accepted his side were well beaten by a team who are now in a play-off place.

“I was disappointed by that tonight, I was disappointed by the way we played on Saturday and I ama disappointed with our recent form,” Ferguson said.

“It’s clear why we’ve started to struggle. We are conceding sloppy goals through individual errors. That’s 11 goals in five matches we’ve now conceded and that can’t continue. Teams are not having to work that hard to score against us.

“We need to get back to basics. We were very solid until this recent run. We have to get back to that and if we do I maintain we have enough in this squad to get where we want to be.

“If we keep clean sheets we have the attacking quality to win matches. It’s up to me to use my experience now. I will stay composed, I won’t panic and I will pick the players up and give them the confidence they need.

“Technically that was the worst we’ve played all season. I felt three at the back and wingbacks would cause them problems, but we couldn’t beat their press. It’s not as though it’s something we haven’t faced before. We work on it all the time. We can normally pass our way past it, but tonight we struggled and we could have been out of the game in 15 minutes.

“Obviously a first minute goal against us didn’t help and it clearly affected us. We were all over the pace and they were right on the front foot. Your plans for the game go out of the window at that point.

“I had to change formation again which I didn’t want to do and I would have been happy to get to half time only 1-0 down. Instead we equalised which was a real boost, but then we started the second half badly and conceded two more poor goals.

“Christy Pym made a mistake from a corner for the second goal and after watching it back it was a penalty and then we switched off for the third goal.

“We huffed and puffed and we should have had a penalty. The referee said he would apologise if he got it wrong, but that’s no use to us now.

“I have to say though Blackpool are one of the best teams we’ve played. That’s twice this season they have deserved to beat us.

“But we are still in a great position, We are second with a game in hand to catch the leaders with 10 games to go. Football has been very fickle this season. In February everyone thought we would win the league by 10 points and now they all probably think we have collapsed.

“But we just need to start another run and it needs to start on Saturday. I’m staying very positive.”

Posh host Accrington Stanley on Saturday (March 27) before facing Fleetwood away and third-placed Sunderland over the Easter weekend.