FERGUSON THREATENS FLOPS WITH MACHINE GUN

DARREN FERGUSON admitted he wanted to "machine gun" his players after sloppy Posh threw away the lead to lose this battle of the strugglers.

Promoted Peterborough went ahead through George Boyd's 24th-minute penalty - his 10th goal of the season.

But Ferguson's men switched off and conceded Daniel Bogdanovic's sucker-punch equaliser for Barnsley just 70 seconds later.

Jon Macken then smashed in the 39th-minute winner to leave Ferguson tearing his hair out and staring at a relegation battle.

He said: "If I'd had a machine gun, I might have run on to the pitch with it after conceding so soon after our goal.

"We went ahead but shot ourselves in the foot and lost a sloppy goal. We switched off and let a cross come in too easily.

"It was hugely disappointing - and then we made another mistake and conceded the second goal.

"I speak about concentration levels all the time. But we're not learning.

"We're not at the start of the season any more - we're a third of the way through and if we don't start learning, we'll be in trouble.

"It was a must-win game for us today with the position we're in.

"The last two years have been nice and rosy but now we need people to be up for the challenge. The difference between League One and the Championship is massive."

Posh's chances were not helped by a shocking league debut by keeper Ben Amos, who came in on loan from Manchester United because of a one-game ban to first choice Joe Lewis.

Amos was signed as a favour by Ferguson's dad Sir Alex. But the 19-year-old was at fault for Barnsley's first goal and made a succession of woeful flaps at crosses. Ferguson said: "I had to move quickly after Lewis' suspension and Amos came highly recommended.

"I thought he started well and then maybe became nervous because of the players in front of him.

"It's difficult for a young lad coming in and playing behind defenders shipping goals."

Early on, Posh's Shaun Batt forced Luke Steele into a decent save and almost bundled through on goal shortly after. The ball fell to Aaron Mclean, who tumbled after bumping into Darren Moore - but ref Carl Boyeson waved away the penalty appeals.

Amos looked like a bag of nerves from his first meaningful involvement, flapping at Ryan Shotton's monster throw into the area.

The Posh keeper misjudged the ball and was lucky his backline cleared with his goal exposed.

Barnsley's Moore gifted Posh a penalty after he tangled with Gabriel Zakuani from a Boyd corner. Boyd ignored keeper Steele's wobbly-legs routine to fire into the bottom corner. Sloppy Posh were still celebrating when they kicked off - allowing the visitors to level.

Macken skipped forward on the right and his superb cross was headed home by Bogdanovic with Amos in a terrible position at his near post.

Striker Macken had another effort deflected away after another Amos flap. But six minutes before the interval, the Tykes broke and man-of-the-match Macken benefited from Craig Morgan losing his footing to thump home a diagonal shot.

Amos made yet another bad punch before the break and, after the restart, Adam Hammill cut inside from the left before whipping a shot wide.

Lee Frecklington's super 25-yard curler almost drew Posh level but the ball just missed the angle of post and bar with the keeper beaten. The home team's pressure mounted and centre-back Morgan had a header cleared off the goal-line by Nathan Doyle.

Amos did make a great save when Barnsley's Hugo Colace ghosted goalwards to glance a header.

But normal service was resumed with another miscued punch, while Macken had the ball in the net late on before a linesman's offside flag was raised.

The result finally gave the Tykes victory against a Ferguson after the midweek Carling Cup defeat by Sir Alex's United.

Barnsley boss Mark Robins said: "This game was billed as a six-pointer and was a really good performance by us.

"Our equaliser was a quality goal. We broke with bodies in the box and it was a good finish from Macken's cross. The winner was also a great move a great finish by Macken but I've seen him play as well as that a lot of times already."

Robins insisted ref Boyeson was wrong to award Posh's penalty.

He added: "The penalty was dubious to say the least. Moore was in front and Zakuani came in front of him, grabbed Moore's arm and Moore lent on him.

"Both of them went down and the referee went for it. For me, it wasn't a penalty."

Robins, appointed two months ago, is now looking at mid-table rather than the relegation zone.

He insisted: "When I came here, we only had one point - so we've done brilliantly well to turn it around."

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