Peterborough United boss issues warning few will agree with after Sheffield Wednesday battering

Posh hammered the Owls 4-0 in the first leg at London Road leaving few giving Wednesday a hope of booking a place in the final at Wembley later this month.

Two unfortunate goals from the visitors perspective had Posh on their way, with Jack Taylor’s strike squirming underneath Cameron Dawson before Jack Ward’s long range effort deflected off the back of Marvin Johnson.

An early second half goal from Kwame Poku prompted a brief rally from Wednesday who had a decent handball shout, but Johnson Clarke-Harris headed in to put the seal on a fine win for the home side.

However, despite that result, Ferguson says he won’t consider the tie to be over and warned his side against complacency in the second leg at Hillsborough on Thursday.

He told Sky Sports: “We have got to focus on ourselves and focus on can we get a similar performance? Not just on the ball but off the ball. They are far bigger than us, they have got a superior height on us so we have to defend crosses and set pieces. Overall it was a very pleasing performance but it’s only half way. I have been in this game long enough - it was a very good night for us.”

Understandably people will look at the attacking threat Peterborough posed but the manager pointed to his backline who allowed Wednesday few opportunities and when they did, their goalkeeper, Will Norris came to the rescue.

“It was a very, very good performance. To beat Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 is a fantastic result, Ferguson said. “It was the clean sheet on top of the goals is what I’m as pleased about because they make you defend and they make you defend set-pieces but it’s just half a game gone.

“Listen, it’s 4-0 but there’s no complacency, there can’t be. We want to go to Hillsborough and try and win the game. That’s how we will approach it, that’s the attitude we’ve got and they are so good at home. I felt we couldn’t go there losing tonight, obviously we won it and won it well.I think the first goal is very key and I have to say my goalkeeper made a massive save at 0-0, Smith has gone through and he’s made a big save. That could have maybe changed the course of the game but my players were outstanding. It was a really, really top performance.”