Darren Ferguson pleased with Peterborough’s reaction in win against Burton

Posted Wednesday, March 15, 2023 by PA

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson was more than satisfied with the reaction of his side as they put Saturday’s defeat to Cheltenham behind them with a stunning 5-2 win at Burton.

Top scorer Jonson Clarke-Harris led the scoring with a brace, with Ephron Mason-Clark and Harrison Burrows adding first-half goals.

Joe Ward sealed a crushing win after Joe Powell and Jonny Smith had kept Albion in with a shout.

“It’s a good win,” Ferguson said. “It’s a good reaction to a really, really poor day on Saturday.

“We were very good attacking-wise. It was five and it could have been double that. I can’t criticise the forward players as all four of them scored. I thought we were devastating on the counter-attack at times.

“We started the game a little bit sloppy, but I think you could see from the moment we scored we caused them problems once we broke their press and got the ball forward early.”

Defeat to Cheltenham was a rare off day and Posh’s reaction was good.

“It’s the reaction I expected from my players. We have had one really off day in 12 now, so it’s not too bad,” Ferguson said, putting perspective on the weekend’s result.

Ferguson knows the threat posed by Sky Bet League One’s leading scorer and feels Peterborough need to make more chances for him.

“To a man we were good, but Jonson does what he does and we know that if we get balls into the box, Jonno scores goals, and he’s very good at it. We just feel that we haven’t got enough balls into him recently with the right quality.”

Dino Maamria saw his Burton side fall to a rare home defeat having lost just one of their previous 11, but acknowledged the attacking prowess that downed his side on the night.

“I think the scoreline shows their quality in front of goal,” Maamria said.

“I thought we started the game really well and created chances from our press. We should have scored two before they get their first goal. That first goal was a killer for us because we were on the front foot, playing in their half.

“What it shows, we had a lot of shots and a lot of chances, but it just shows the quality that they have, which is something Peterborough are well known for.

“Defensively they are really poor goals. A lot of individual mistakes. Players were not stopping crosses and were too passive. It’s the basics, and if you don’t do those right you are going to concede and the team will suffer.”