Sacrifices over Christmas period were the reason for Peterborough United's 'thoroughly deserved' comeback win over Derby County, says Darren Ferguson

Posh’s players trained for 12 days straight over the festive period, with no days off, which Ferguson credited as the reason Posh looked so ‘fresh and fit’ at the end of a tough 90 minutes as they chased victory at Pride Park.

Posh twice had to come from behind after conceding after just 20 seconds then conceding a penalty in the second half when Hector Kyprianou looked to have been pushed from behind, forcing him to make a handball.

Posh fought back though with goals from Harrison Burrows, Kwame Poku and a Ricky-Jade Jones effort he poked in with just seconds left on the clock.

Victory for Bolton over Burton meant Posh stayed third, but crucially, Ferguson’s men have pulled three points clear of Derby. Derby will play that game on Saturday at bottom club Fleetwood while Posh are in FA Cup action the following day.

Ferguson beamed: “I’m so proud of the youngest team throughout all the leagues. You’ve seen what they’re about, they are so together and they don’t know when they are beaten.

“We’ve played two teams that will be up there and we’ve fought back twice now. It was a much better performance today and I would have been disappointed to draw it never mind lose it.

“The character the boys have shown is the key to being successful. These lads have got it in abundance.

“I knew it wouldn’t be 0-0, but you don’t expect to be 1-0 down after 20 seconds, it was such a bad start for us. It’s quite rare you see that, but the calmness in the players was bang on.

“We responded very, very well and stuck to the game plan. Towards the 15 minute mark, we should have been 2-1 or 3-1 up.

“They then changed shape, but we kept playing quick, playing small passes and trying to make them run as much as possible. We thoroughly deserved the win.

"When it went 2-2, I had a feeling we could go on and win this. That’s why we brought David Ajiboye on to just keep running past them.

“I didn’t see any need to make wholesale changes while the game was going on as we looked fresh. The sacrifices the players have made over the Christmas period, with 12 days on the bounce in with no days off, was why we won today. We looked fresh and fit.”

When asked about the penalty, Ferguson admitted to not being too disappointed with the decision more so that Fynn Talley’s save from James Collins’ counted for nothing as he was able to head in the rebound.

Freguson added: “I said at half time, the counter attacks for them will be a danger and the crosses. We were fully aware of that but, from what Tongey (Dale Tonge) told me, PK has pushed Cashin and Cashin has fallen onto Hector. It looked a handball.

“Fynn is a good penalty saver, we know that, the players should have known that. I fancied him to save it and he did, but Collins has reacted first and scored. That was disappointing, but then we reset and kept going and we got a deserved win.”

Posh now take a break in league action as they host Leeds in the FA Cup third Round on Sunday (2pm) followed by Crawley Town in the EFL Trophy the following Wednesday (January, 10).

Leeds snapped a two-game losing run in the Championship on Monday with a 3-0 win over Birmingham. They sit fourth.