TALKING POINTS: This was an ill-timed defeat and display for the manager’s peace of mind as back-up boys failed to prove the squad has the strength in depth to challenge for promotion

But last night was a big night for Peterborough United and manager Darren Ferguson. The 2-1 defeat at Tranmere, even in a quarter-final, should not worry the boss unduly, but the performance was a real kick in the teeth.

It was revealed the day before the game that Ferguson had declined an invitation from his chairman to add a couple of new faces to his playing squad ahead of the big slog to the end of the season. The squad was big enough and talented enough already he reasoned. Why he even let a summer signing leave as he had such great faith in his younger players.

Now a one-off game on a pitch with more bumps than a cobbled street is no fair way to judge quality or even potential, but a level of desire could be determined and those with most to gain from recent limp attacking displays presumably (the manager was due to offer his opinion on the game later today) failed miserably to persuade Ferguson to pick them for the more important League One matches to come.

Those upcoming games against in-form Crewe (February 6) and a bolstered Ipswich side (February 9) now asssume huge importance for the club as well as the manager’s peace of mind. Criticism flowed freely towards him following the lack of a January signing. It will only intensify if the current attacking malaise continues.

OTHER TALKING POINTS...

1) Posh can’t hide behind making many changes as a reason for defeat. Tranmere left most of their experienced players at home. The teams made 13 changes between then which shows the priority for both was not a trip to a deserted Wembley for a final. Indeed Posh should take a small consolation from the fact that promotion chasers Sunderland, Oxford and Lincoln are still in the competition. No-one should want extra fixtures this season.

2) It’s not over the top to suggest Ricky-Jade Jones, Mo Eisa, Idris Kanu, Harrison Burrows and Flynn Clarke could all have forced themselves into Ferguson’s League One plans with a decent display last night. It would now be a major surprise if any of them start against Crewe on Saturday. None of them earned it. Jones needs to add technical skills to his pace, Eisa looks completely lost, Kanu and Burrows laboured last night and Clarke was anonymous until taken off at half-time. It took the arrival of senior men Sammie Szmodics and Jonson Clarke-Harris to inject some urgency into the side. The regular first-teamers don’t look under threat at all which is not a good thing as complacency could set in, if it hasn’t already.

3) At 18 Simon Davies was not just a regular in the Posh starting line-up. He was starring in it. Matthew Etherington was the same, albeit both were playing in the basement division of the Football League. Posh fielded three 18 year-olds last night, Burrows, Clarke and Jones and none of them look ready to play regularly at League One level. Burrows is the closest, although his performances since that impresssive cameo against Charlton have been disappointing. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ronnie Edwards makes that breakthrough next season. He turns 18 in March.

4) Posh have become far too easy to play against and it might be time for a tactical twist again just to take an opponent by surprise. Pressing the Posh midfield and blocking off the wing-backs was enough for Shrewsbury to beat Posh comfortably last weekend and I wonder if Posh might soon revert to a 4-2-3-1 system with Kent and Beevers as centre-backs, Thompson and Butler as full-backs and Ward, Szmodics and Dembele supporting Clarke-Harris. Something needs to change, although initially for away games. The only Posh home disappointment of recent times, the 0-0 draw with Bristol Rovers, could easily have finished 4-0 on another night given the number of shots on goal Posh delivered.

5) The Posh dip in form was put even more firmly into perspective by Accrington Stanley’s 6-1 win last night over the same Bristol Rovers team who took a point from London Road and by Crewe’s 1-0 win at the Shrewsbury side that beat Posh so easily. Teams are queuing up behind a fairly establised top six and some big clubs could be in danger of missing out on the play-offs.