14 November 2020

Darren Ferguson hits out at Peterborough’s display in defeat at Crewe

14 November 2020

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson admitted his League One leaders got what they deserved in the 2-0 defeat at Crewe

Goals from Harry Pickering and Charlie Kirk condemned Posh to their first league loss in nine matches, leaving Ferguson dashing down the tunnel at Gresty Road before referee Tom Bramall blew for full-time.

“Crewe thoroughly deserved their win. Throughout the game in every department, running, tackles and second balls they were way ahead of us,” said Ferguson, who was recently named manager of the month for October.

“We didn’t keep the ball well enough and we gave it back to a team who are good in possession.

“There wasn’t enough quality. We were way off it and I need to find out why we gave a performance like that as we have done so well.

“We can’t have days off as we’ve got to get as many points as quickly as possible as we don’t know what is going to happen. We’ve had a great run but we can’t have performances like that.”

Crewe boss Dave Artell says his side have come through the second hardest set of opening fixtures in the division and deserved better reward from several strong performances, notably a 1-0 defeat at Ipswich a fortnight ago.

But they received their just rewards here to end a run of three straight defeats by ruthlessly punishing two first-half mistakes.

Louis Reed’s ill-timed tackle on Oli Finney allowed Pickering the opportunity to drive a free-kick in off the post for the 29th-minute opener.

When Niall Mason tried an over ambitious cross-field pass, Kirk cut it out and raced away before bludgeoning a rising shot into the corner.

Crewe were good at the back too and young defender Luke Offord’s tackle thwarted Siriki Dembele in one of Peterborough’s rare moments of threat before the break.

Substitute Mo Eisa should have cut the deficit late on when Will Jaaskelainen parried Reece Brown’s long-range shot, but the attacker mishit his rebound effort at the keeper and with that went Posh’s last hope.

Artell said: “In the last three weeks we could have beaten Ipswich and Gillingham by three or five, but lost both games 1-0. But today we’ve scored a couple and deservedly beaten the leaders.

“We had attacking flair in the first half and showed defensive solidity in the second. I think only three teams have conceded less goals than us and the way we played in the second half you can see why. We’re not a soft touch and we don’t get rolled over.

“We’ve played well in the last three or four weeks but not had the results. But the players are going to take time to find their feet and I’m really pleased with them. They are getting better in each game we play.”

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