Darren Ferguson praises 'outstanding' Jonson Clarke-Harris after his return to the Peterborough United team

Clarke-Harris made his Posh return on Tuesday night after being just 50 seconds away from leaving the club on transfer deadline day.

Clarke-Harris sat out the defeat at Portsmouth a day later after spending the previous night finalising what he thought would be a move back to his old club Bristol Rovers.

The deal collapsed at the last moment, however, which is believed to be have been caused by the paperwork on the deal being filed just 50 seconds too late.

The 29-year-old started the EFL Trophy tie at the Weston Homes Stadium and provided an assist for new captain Ephron Mason-Clark to score his first goal since the opening day of the season.

Ferguson said: “Jonno’s come back and been outstanding; really, really good. He’s trained really well and looked sharp tonight.

"They all did, there was a freshness in the whole team which I was pleased about.

"He’s just got on with it, no problems at all.”

Neither of the two late arrivals that Clarke-Harris will now be competing with up front, Malik Mothersille and Jacob Wakeling, were available for the Cambridge tie due to a lack of match fitness and being cup-tied respectively so Mason-Clark continued as a central striker, playing alongside Clarke-Harris this time.

Ferguson added: “I wanted to have a look at Ephron and Jonno up front so we’ve got to see that tonight. It’s good that Ephron got a goal, I was really pleased for him. There was certain things I wanted to see and certain things I want to see us improve on.”

Wakeling will be available for Posh as they host Leyton Orient in league action on Saturday while the club are expected to continue to build up Mothersille’s fitness in the coming weeks.