Why Peterborough United boss thinks Sparkes has had unfair criticism, plus the boss on the captaincy and more excellent young players

But the new left-back would have gone some way to winning over his critics with an excellent display in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Stevenage in an EFL Trophy tie at the Weston Homes Stadium. Sparkes scored his first Posh goal and had a big hand in the opening goal of the game scored by Malik Mothersille.

Sparkes (23) was an emergency signing just before the start of the season after £500k capture Rio Adebisi suffered an injury that will keep him out until November. The former Exeter man had played a part in Portsmouth’s title-winning League One season last term, but he received so much stick on social media last month he deactivated his accounts.

“I would say last night was Jack’s best game for us,” Ferguson said. “He was aggressive, he scored a very good goal and he was up and down the pitch impressively. We know what we were getting when we signed Jack. He has a hell of a left-foot for a start and he is getting there. He’s had some unfair criticism this season, partly because of who he replaced. He’s taken over from Harrison who is playing at the top end of the Championship every week now, but Jack will be a good player for us as well.”

Holders Posh have won their opening two Trophy matches, but they have not yet clinched their place in the knockout stages. If Posh lose to Crystal Palace Under 21s by two goals in their final group game on November 5 and Stevenage beat Gillingham by three goals, Ferguson’s side would drop to third and be eliminated.

The manager made six changes to his starting line-up and he was happy to see his side moved to the verge of the last 32, especially as last night’s match was close to being postponed after torrential rain forced a 38-minute break in play while the playing surface was treated. Referee Stephen Parkinson finally allowed the match to resume after a couple of pitch inspections. Burrows was at the game.

"It was touch and go for a while, but thankfully the referee was excellent,” Ferguson added. “We had a communication line open to the EFL who said we could take as much time as we needed and the referee used his common sense to give us a chance of getting the game back on. Fair play to the groundstaff for the work they did as well.

"It was a good performance once we got our tempo right. Malik took his goal well and the move and finish for Jack’s goal were exceptional. We got stuck a bit with our passing in the first-half, but we controlled the second-half and a first clean sheet of the season was very important. It’s also good to have won our last three home matches.

“I played Donay O’Brien-Brady and Ryan De Havilland together in midfield with Saturday’s game in mind, but I have other things I can try in there. The plan was always to take Donay off at half-time as he’s a young lad who has played a lot of games recently. The substitutes were all very good. I was really pleased with David Kamara who was strong and competitive and Tyler Young was excellent.”

Ferguson handed the captaincy to centre-back Emmanuel Fernandez in the absence of injury victim Hector Kyprianou. Archie Collins has taken the armband in Kyprianou’s absence this season, but he is suspended for the League One visit of Rotherham United on Saturday so Fernandez could keep the job.

"Manny is a very mature lad,” Ferguson said. “He’s actually one of oldest players, but I gave him the job because he is a leader. He is a good talker, but we’ll have to wait and see if he skippers the side on Saturday as I have Poku, Wallin and Ricky-Jade Jones back for that game.”

Ferguson reported Joel Randall was fine despite an unplanned substitution midway through the second-half. The 24 year-old just stiffened up after the long rain delay.