Darren Ferguson: Peterborough still have plenty of room for improvement

Posted Sunday, October 18, 2020 by PA

Darren Ferguson insisted Peterborough are still nowhere the finished article – despite watching them collect a third consecutive League One win.

In-form Posh sent Oxford tumbling to the bottom of the standings with a 2-0 success as Joe Ward and Siriki Dembele bagged their first goals of the season.

Ward broke the deadlock two minutes before the break with a high-class strike and then turned provider for Dembele to seal the points 20 minutes into the second period.

But Posh were also thankful to keeper Christy Pym for two vital saves just before they went ahead. Ferguson’s men also had to survive plenty of pressure before doubling their lead.

Ferguson said: “It was a very good win for us. Oxford are a good team regardless of where they are in the table early doors.

“Christy made two crucial saves just before we went ahead and they were key moments in a game which was still 0-0 at the time.

“Oxford came out very aggressively in the second half and were a real threat, but our second goal then came at the perfect time.

“That was the clincher and we could then have scored more with one or two opportunities that we just didn’t pick off.

“There was a lot I liked from us but there is still a lot we need to work on. We’re not anywhere near the level we can reach for a consistent 90 minutes.

“But the players have an outstanding mentality when it comes to winning games and they are three more really important points ahead of a tough week on the road.”

Struggling Oxford certainly have to find plenty of improvement as well after slumping to a fourth defeat in their opening five games.

Boss Karl Robinson said: “We can’t seem to score goals at the moment – and both Peterborough goals came at times when we were most in control.

“We couldn’t make the most of getting into some great areas and take our chances so we found ourselves trying to climb a mountain against a top-six side.

“But it’s not acceptable in football to keep losing games without doing something about it. We’ve lost four of our first five games and we have to find our rhythm in some way.

“A lot of things have gone against this group of players, but we have to stand up and embrace it.

“You constantly feel you’re banging your head against the wall all the time. You either keep doing it or accept it and try to change it now.

“We’ve got to find a way of winning more games of football than we have done so far and the players know the results haven’t been good enough.”