Peterborough United boss Darren Ferguson has defended his selection choices following their 2-0 defeat to relegation-threatened Cheltenham Town.
The result leaves Posh six points behind the automatic places with only three points left to play for as they travel to third-placed Bolton Wanderers on the final day on Saturday. This was their second defeat in their last five with the other being the 5-0 hammering they received at play-off chasing Oxford United a few weeks back.
Strikers Joe Nuttall and Matty Taylor were both on the scoresheet for the Robins against a much-changed Posh side. Town have now won two of their last three games to give themselves a fighting chance of survival.
The win has helped Darrell Clarke’s side drag Burton Albion and Cambridge United into a final-day scrap. One more team will join Carlisle United, Fleetwood Town and Port Vale in League Two next season and just three points separate the three sides. Burton and Cambridge face Port Vale and Fleetwood whilst the Robins come up against Stevenage.
With the play-offs on the horizon, Ferguson opted to rest a number of first team stars. These included Jed Steer, Harrison Burrows, Ronnie Edwards, Archie Collins, Josh Knight, Kwame Poku and Ephron Mason-Clark. Meanwhile, Harley Mills was handed his debut whilst James Dornelly made a second successive start.
Speaking after the game, the manager told Peterborough Telegraph:
“Both halves started with them getting on top of us. We couldn’t sustain any sort of control.”
“The goals are terrible goals. You can’t give goals away like that. We know they would start like that and come down our throats, but we gave away two really poor goals. They got so much energy from it.”
“Tonight we had to rest players. Jadel has probably played a little longer than I hoped so we’ll have to assess him, but it was an opportunity for others. You don’t know what’s going to happen between now and the play-offs.”
“The squad is the squad and all of the players might be needed. One of two might just have taken the opportunity a little better.”
Writer’s View
Burton and Cambridge fans won’t be happy that Ferguson opted to rotate so heavily against a team with something still to play for. It’s also slightly baffling as Posh still had a slim chance of finishing in the automatic promotion places. Ferguson has tried to defend it by saying it’s a squad game but it will be interesting to see whether this is more fan backlash should Cheltenham survive.
That being said, Robins’ boss Clarke will be delighted. His team still had to get the job done and they did just that to give themselves a fighting chance of staying in League One.
