Stark warning for Peterborough United players who are 'nowhere near' the levels expected by boss Darren Ferguson

The warning came after Posh made it four league matches without a win after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Leyton Orient on Saturday.

Posh had taken the lead in the first half when Hector Kyprianou poked in from close range, following a corner, against his old side, but Posh could only hold the lead for 12 minutes before Omar Beckles headed in an equaliser for Orient.

The draw did end a run of three consecutive league defeats, but Ferguson was still left disappointed with the performance of a number of his players.

Ferguson said: “There's things I'm seeing that we need to improve on. Quite frankly, some players need to start performing to a level I expect because some of them are nowhere near at the moment.

"It was important we didn't lose another game, but I don't know if we did enough to get the three points.

“The whole first half was not how we play. There was no tempo, no urgency and no enthusiasm.

"The biggest problem was the lack of tempo to our game. Even when we scored, we didn't up it. Then we lose a tackle on the edge of the box, don't stop the cross and they're back in the game and have something to hang on to.”

Posh sprung a surprise to start the match lining up with a midfield diamond, with Ryan De Havilland’s first Football League start being one of three changes from the last league outing at Portsmouth.

This was quickly discarded for Posh’s regular 4-2-3-1 before Posh brought on Zak Sturge late in the game to switch to wingbacks in a desperate attempt to find a winner.

De Havilland and Kwame Poku were also sacrificed at half time for Joel Randall and David Ajiboye.

Ferguson added: “I could have made more changes. That wasn't what I expect from my team and the players now realise that so I changed the shape. We went with a bit more width, we needed more energy and urgency.

"The second half was a better tempo, better quality at times. We were dominant, but I can’t remember any clear-cut chances we created.

"We improved because the subs played with energy.

“David caused them problems until he got a real bad dead leg. That did affect him as he was getting real momentum down that side. Joel ran and got in good areas without having the final bit at times.

"Zak's best position is wing-back. Quite a few times he had some really good one-on-one situations and I don't know if he made the right decision at times.

“I've got a lot to ponder over the weekend as clearly we need to be better than that.”

Posh return to action on Tuesday (September 19) with their rearranged home match against Cheltenham. The Robins are still yet to score in League One this season and have just a single point.

On Saturday, they were beaten 1-0 away at Exeter.