Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson has now seen the standards that would win promotion for his side

Posh beat promotion rival Portsmouth 2-0 at the Weston Homes Stadium today (March 7) to jump four places into fourth. Posh now head a group of five teams all on 59 points.

Defender Dan Butler and star man Ivan Toney scored the goals to seal victory from a mightily impressive all-round display.

Toney returned to action following a two-game ban - Posh didn’t win either game - to lead the line superbly alongside Siriki Dembele. He now has 26 goals for the season.

“That was impressive,” Ferguson stated. “We knew the stakes were high in a game we couldn’t afford to lose and the way we set about the task so confidently and so assuredly was outstanding.

“We reminded the players how good they felt when beating Rotherham and Oxford earlier this year and they repeated the standard of those wins. They are our standards now. We know if we play to this level we will take some stopping.

“That’s not us getting carried away it’s just what I take from this performance. We have no room for error in the final nine games, but this standard will get us close to where we want to go.

“My front two caused them no end of problems. I went with Dembele rather than Mo Eisa as I felt his strengths would unsettle the defenders we were likely to be playing and so it proved.

“And they couldn’t cope with Ivan Toney. I have no idea how he scored his goal. He just swung his let at the ball and it went in.

“We are far from a one-man team though. Of course Ivan is important as he’s the best player in League One, but clean sheets will be just as important to us as we will always score goals.

“And Portsmouth gave us very few problems apart from a couple of half chances.

“Scoring the first goal was always going to be important and we really turned the screw after Dan Butler’s goal and only their goalkeeper has kept them in the game.

“Portsmouth had some possession in the second-half, but we were able to break out and threaten because we were good at getting our first pass away when under pressure.

“It’s still tight though and it will probably remain tight for the rest of the season, but playing like this we have as good a chance as anyone else of getting up.”

Posh lost defender Nathan Thompson to a thigh injury at half-time. He will be sent for a scan on Monday.

Centre-back Frankie Kent is now expected to return from a knee injury in the home game against Bristol Rovers on March 21.