DARREN Ferguson said his Peterborough United side could’ve conceded 10 in their 5-0 mauling at the hands of Oxford United.

In addition to the five goals that Des Buckingham’s U’s did score, Owen Dale and Greg Leigh both hit the post, while Dale and Marcus Browne also spurned glorious opportunities in front of goal, in addition to other chances created.

Ferguson also rued an opportunity for striker Ricky-Jade Jones to make it 1-1, however he hit the crossbar from close range following a left wing cross.

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Ferguson told the Peterborough Telegraph: “The manner of the goals we have lost was so bad. To gift them the first two goals we did was awful.

“We actually started the half well and had one or two good opportunities, but the manner of the goals we’ve lost, you can’t do that in a game of football.

“For the first goal, I don’t know why we go back. We could have gone forward at that point, the same with the second, Ephron [Mason-Clark] goes back to Jed Katongo when he could go forward. The third goal, we’ve lost it, and he [Josh Murphy] has just ran off us and it’s a tap-in.

“At three they’ve missed an open goal and I had to do something. We changed formation. It’s very rare I make any changes at half-time, but we had to do something.

“The fourth goal was pivotal, they got it. We got away with five as it could have been 10.”

Witney Gazette:

Ferguson added: “Ricky has to score to make it 1-1, but all the quality, in defence, attack, transition, they were far superior.

“The next goal was always going to be crucial, but after they got it, it just became a mess.

“I was hoping the substitutions might spark a bit of life into us, but I have to take them out of the real criticism though because it’s hard to come on at 3-0.

“We’ve done nothing, but let ourselves down today, that’s not us. We’ve let ourselves and the fans down massively and we have to find a way of reacting.

“We were absolutely outclassed in all departments. We can have no excuses, there is not one we can have for that performance.”

Posh skipper Harrison Burrows added: “We were miles away from our standards. And you can’t have a day like this against a team as good as Oxford.

“We made a lot of mistakes in this game, but we win as a team and we lose as a team. We will get together and sort out why it happened.

“I apologise to the fans on behalf of the team. We really appreciate the support we’ve been getting.”