Darren Ferguson relieved after Peterborough survive Portsmouth rally

Posted Sunday, January 29, 2023 by PA

Darren Ferguson breathed a huge sigh of relief after his triumphant return to Peterborough continued with a 2-1 home win over Portsmouth.

Ferguson toasted a second successive victory thanks to a first-half brace from Jonson Clarke-Harris.

The League One leading scorer tapped in an 18th-minute opener and smashed home a penalty just before the break as the hosts took command.

Posh were then guilty of squandering a stack of chances to put Pompey to the sword before the visitors woke from their slumbers to launch a late rally.

Substitute Reeco Hackett-Fairchild thought he had halved the arrears with 14 minutes to go only for his effort to be ruled out for an offside in the build-up.

Hackett-Fairchild was again involved when Pompey did succeed in pulling one back as his cross slammed into Posh defender Nathan Thompson for a late own goal but Posh held on.

Ferguson admitted: “It was a comfortable game which became very uncomfortable and we’ve only got ourselves to blame for that.

“We should have been out of sight given the amount of clear chances we had but it can always become a problem at 2-0 if you don’t put them away.

“If we had got a third goal the game would have been over and we might well have gone to get more.

“But it was them who got the next goal and we had to dig in to get a result but sometimes that’s the best way to win a game when you have to do it like that.

“We controlled the game really well in the first half and some of our football was outstanding.

“The game was so open in the first few minutes of the second half, which I didn’t want but also actually suited us as we kept creating chances.

“That was the point in which we needed to kill the game off and not doing that made it difficult.

“The own goal was very unfortunate as the ball came at Nathan so quickly and he just couldn’t move his feet.

“At that point you’re thinking ‘game on’ and it really was game on but we came through it.

“The players have been very good so far since I came in and I’m very pleased to have won the first two games.

“This one will give us a big boost as it came against a good team.

“We haven’t beaten enough of the teams above and around us this season and we’re going to have to beat them all to get in the play-offs.”

While Ferguson remains unbeaten in his latest stint in the dugout, there was a first defeat to digest for rookie Pompey chief John Mousinho in his third game in charge.

The disallowed goal was the big topic of discussion in the aftermath but Mousinho was also quick to accept the hosts deserved their victory for dominating much of the contest.

Mousinho said: “I got an explanation from the fourth official and I’ve since seen it back.

“I completely understand the officials don’t have the benefits of the replays that we do.

“It’s a tight call to be honest and the fact the linesman didn’t initially put his flag up tells me everything I need to know.

“When I thought we’d scored, my message to the boys was that there was plenty of time for them to get another one.

“I felt like the momentum was in our favour and we were starting to get somewhere.

“We did get the goal eventually to make it an interesting finish but it was too little, too late unfortunately.

“It’s obviously really disappointing to lose after we showed a lot of character to come back into the game.

“We have to take a lot of positives from that but when we look back at it, Peterborough were the better side for the first 65 minutes and probably deserved the victory on the balance of play overall.”

Ferguson revealed striker Jack Marriott was left out of the squad after a bid from an unnamed League One club.