The perfect pick-me-up for Posh as Darren Ferguson is given a selection headache
Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson described tonight’s 3-0 win over West Ham United in the Papa John’s Trophy as the perfect pick-me-up.
Posh moved to within three wins of a first trip to Wembley in seven years thanks to two goals from Mo Eisa and another from Serhat Tasdemir at the Weston Homes Stadium.
Posh are in the Southern half of the draw for the third round alongside Cambridge United, Northampton Town, MK Dons, Portsmouth, Oxford United, AFC Wimbledon and Bristol Rovers. That draw takes place at 11.15am on Thursday (December 10) live on talkSPORT.
It was a dominant display by a much-changed Posh side - only defender Frazer Blake-Tracy and midfielder Ethan Hamilton also started the defeat at Portsmouth on Saturday - who had lost five of their six previous competitive matches.
Ferguson also reverted to a formation with three centre-backs and two wing-backs for a game that saw fans in the Weston Homes Stadium for the first time this season.
“It was a very pleasing performance and just what we needed,” Ferguson stated. “It should be a good pick-me-up for us all after a difficult run of results.
“I know it wasn’t a League One match which is obviously the most important competition, but the way we played the formation was just how I want it to be played. We will go over it tomorrow and it will be useful viewing for some of the players who didn’t play tonight.
“If this is the system we will use going forward this was how it should be played. We were aggressive, positive and created chances while keeping a clean sheet. The structure of the team just looked so much better. The players played the system perfectly
“There were many strong individual displays and the goals will do Mo Eisa the world of good. We know he will finish if we create chances and his confidence should have shot up now.
“Ronnie Edwards is going to be some player and I was pleased that Hamilton and Blake-Tracy played well after the problems they had at Portsmouth.
“We played okay in the first-half without causing them too many problems, but we asked for more penetration in the second-half and we certainly got it.
“I have some serious thinking to about selection, Our form suggests there should be opportunities for others and some players did themselves no harm tonight.
“It was great for the fans as well. It makes such a difference even with a small number in. It can only help the players and we should have a few more in on Saturday.”
Posh did not give out an official attendance tonight, but there were around 750 fans at the game. Posh will expect the maximum 2,000 for the visit of Rochdale in League One on Saturday (December 12).
Season ticket holders who reside in tier two areas can obtain their tickets from 9am tomorrow.