Ephron Mason-Clark bagged a brace for Peterborough United in League One's Monday night football, as the Posh recorded a 0-2 win against Port Vale in Staffordshire.

The two goals came within eight second-half minutes, to ensure Peterborough ended an unwanted winless run away from home in the third tier, which dates back to October. 

Peterborough moved up to 7th after the win, and are now just two points off the play-off spots. With the Posh looking ahead at a favourable next seven games in the League, Darren Ferguson will fancy his chances of earning a spot in the top six.

  • Ferguson impressed by the shape of his side at Vale Park 

 

Ferguson spoke to the media after the game, and was delighted by what he saw in his first game back as Peterborough United manager: 

"I was delighted with the determination to win a game of football, I was really pleased. The mentality was good, clean sheet, an away win, tonight we've seen a lot of good stuff." 

"The shape was good, off the ball it was very good, the pitch got heavy, but we played the shape well and what we worked on we did well. Most importantly for me, I saw where the players were, to get any success away from home you've got to roll your sleeves up, and really battle and fight for each other and I've seen a lot of that tonight."

The newly appointed Boro boss takes up his fourth stint in charge of the Posh, and despite knowing a handful of the players in his side, he was still left to start from fresh: 

"It was a blank canvas for me, I said to the players let's just start as if this is the first game of the season. I had decisions to make, the players took it on board, and I liked a lot of what I've seen. There's more improvement in there, you need to have that fight and that mentality to win games of football and if we continue with that then it will give us a good chance."

  •  Praise for Mason-Clark brace

Ferguson praised goalscorer Ephron Mason-Clark after the game. The winger's two second-half goals claimed all three points for Peterborough and his boss with pleased with what he saw from the former Barnet man:

"I know him from his time at Barnet. He's Strong, he's quick. What I really like about him is he gets in the box on the opposite side, that's his two goals, really good positions. He wants to get goals."

 

The Boro boss was also impressed by the performance of Joe Ward, who got an assist on the night, whilst also reiterating the team performance as a whole:

"I thought Joe both on and off the ball played really well. It was a good team performance."

Goalkeeper Will Norris played his first game for the Posh since arriving on loan from Premier League Wolves two weeks ago.

The former Cambridge stopper kept a clean sheet on his debut, and Ferguson is happy to have him at the club:

"He's a confident goalkeeper, and I think you can see he brought that experience." 

"We're not going to get carried away. If we came here and got defeated, I would've said we go again and not get too down, we win the game and there was a lot of stuff that the players need to take in every game"

Peterborough United face Charlton Athletic in their next game, as Ferguson's side return to the Weston Homes Stadium on January 21, in a 15:00 GMT kick-off.