‘Professional’ Posh please Darren Ferguson as injury-hit Burton are seen off

Posted Sunday, November 26, 2023 by PA

Darren Ferguson spoke of his pride after promotion-chasing Peterborough dismantled injury-ravaged Burton in a 4-0 Sky Bet League One rout.

The Peterborough manager’s only frustration would have been that his team did not rack up a more emphatic scoreline as a host of other chances went begging in another dominant performance at London Road.

First-half goals from Joel Randall and Ephron Mason-Clark put the hosts in cruise control, then a Cole Stockton own goal and Kwame Poku’s close range finish completed the rout after the break.

Dino Maamria’s patched-up Brewers side were on the rack for most of this one-sided encounter, although Stockton nearly capitalised on a mistake from Posh goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic, only to see his first-half stoppage time volley headed off the line by Josh Knight.

It was a rare moment of panic for fifth-placed Peterborough, who have dropped just two points from their last six home matches – a run which includes a 5-0 derby day demolition job on local rivals Cambridge.

Ferguson said: “When you’re a manager and you enjoy watching your team play, that’s always a good sign.

“In the last two home games I’ve seen a different level of maturity. Especially when we’re 3-0 up to Cambridge at half-time, they’ve gone on and been really professional. And today, the same again.

“The quality has always been there for me. It’s just getting it on a consistent basis now.

“These games are never easy. Burton are a decent team. We spoke about how to match them in every area, and we did that.

“These games are better results for me than when we play against your Portsmouths and your Derbys. Those game just take care of themselves. These are the games you’ve got to have the correct mentality in, and make sure you do the basics right.

“We started really strongly and were aggressive. We spoke about that in terms of having the correct mentality in a game that everyone on the outside would expect us to win. That’s not always the case so we had to make sure we were correct from the first minute, and we were.”

Burton manager Maamria was forced to field his second year scholar Will Tamen, aged just 17, as a centre-half against one of the highest-scoring teams in the league.

Maamria admitted: “It was a difficult afternoon, and we expected that. It’s a tough place to come and they score a lot of goals.

“We knew it would be difficult with our best team but, with our back four all out, and our holding midfielder out, they are our five best players. If you take five of Manchester City’s players out they will suffer.

“A club like ours, we’ve got what we’ve got when you come up against a team like these with half of your team out.

“To pick up points against teams like Peterborough you’ve got to disturb their rhythm and manage the tempo of the game. You’ve got to show controlled aggression as they have good players if you allow them to play.

“This afternoon we didn’t show enough passion to compete in terms of duels, and that’s the biggest disappointment.”