Posh 'bereft of confidence and belief' - Ferguson

Darren Ferguson's Peterborough team last won - against Birmingham in the EFL Trophy final - in April

Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson says his players are "bereft of confidence and belief" after a terrible start to their defence of the EFL Trophy.

Posh have won the competition for the past two seasons but lost 3-1 at home to 10-man Leyton Orient in Tuesday's group stage opener.

That defeat came on the back of a dreadful start in League One, sitting bottom after picking up just one point from six matches, while they were also knocked out of the Carabao Cup in round one.

"Some of it is a carry-over from last season - that has had a bit of a domino effect with the way we've started the season," Ferguson told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

Beating Birmingham City at Wembley in April to retain their trophy was the highlight of a poor 2024-25 campaign for Peterborough, which ended with a seven-game winless league run on the way to finishing 18th, their lowest finish for 17 years.

But, apart from a solitary draw with Bradford City, they have lost every game this season.

And despite Orient having Azeem Abdulai sent off as early as the 26th minute, they could not take advantage.

"You get a break with the red card and think 'go on and win and get a bit of confidence back into the camp' which is clearly missing, and it goes horribly wrong," said Ferguson.

Posh brought in four new players on transfer deadline day - Harry Leonard, Tom O'Connor, Jacob Mendy and Jimmy-Jay Morgan - and Ferguson needs them to have a big impact, starting at Huddersfield Town on Saturday.

"I've been in this game a long time - I know one result can change things very quickly, and that can bring belief and confidence," he said.

"We have to hope the new players hit the ground running and I have to make sure that happens - and we start to get performances that are good enough to get results."