Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson believes his side need to be more ruthless despite extending their unbeaten run in League One to eight matches with a 1-0 victory at Port Vale.

The only goal of the game came in the 14th minute when Connor Ripley failed to keep out Ephron Mason-Clark’s back-post header from Kwame Poku’s cross.

Posh had plenty of chances to put the game to bed thereafter, but ultimately had to battle hard to see the win out.

“It was a very good result,” Ferguson said.

“These are the sort of results that you need to get away from home on a Tuesday night, and sometimes you have to just dig it out and we did that tonight.

“We should not have had to with the amount of opportunities we had, but we did.

“Some decision-making let us down in the top end of the pitch attacking wise, but defensively we were very solid – the goalkeeper was very solid, and the two centre-halves were outstanding.”

Ripley produced a superb double save in first half added time – firstly denying Joel Randall and then Ricky-Jade Jones – to keep the deficit to one going into the break.

The Vale goalkeeper had to be alert again to thwart Poku when one-on-one just before the hour mark.

“We should not be having to hang on, if you want to call it that, because the two chances – Joel’s and Ricky’s – one’s got to go in, it’s from six yards,” Ferguson added.

“And then in the second half, I mean some of the decision-making, we’ve got to be better in our decision-making.

“The players know that, but credit to the defenders in particular.”

The hosts threatened to equalise in the 67th minute as substitute James Plant’s goal-bound effort was blocked superbly by Ronnie Edwards on the line, but that was as close as they came.

Boss Andy Crosby feels his team, who are now without a win in seven league games, are lacking a cutting edge.

“We showed the effort, the application, the commitment – we went right to the end,” he said.

“We’ve played one of the top teams in the division with a real attacking threat, a real attacking presence.

“We go behind early in the game and they dominate the early periods, but we change the shape, we then press with a bit more intensity and turn a few balls over.

“And we seem to be saying the same thing when we get into the final third – we’re not executing the finish, the cross.

“But the effort and the commitment to keep going, to not feel sorry for yourself (was there), and that’s what you’ve got to do.

“I’ve said just now we’ve got two choices – we either start feeling sorry for ourselves and we splinter as a group.

“But I’m 100 per cent sure that’s not going to happen. I look at the lads and they’re giving absolutely everything for the cause.”

Neil Critchley lamented Blackpool’s inability to kill Cheltenham off despite holding on for a 3-2 victory.

The Seasiders surged into a 3-0 first-half lead and that would prove enough to earn a third win in six League One games.

Shayne Lavery, Jordan Rhodes and Karamoko Dembele all scored for the home side to put them in cruise control.

But a brace from Will Goodwin made it a nervy ending for the hosts – an unnecessarily fraught finish in their manager’s view.

“We made what could’ve been a comfortable night really difficult,” said Critchley. “We were very good in the first half and played very well – we could’ve had one or two more goals.

“We started the second half quite well and had some chances to finish the game, but we didn’t. They changed and that made a difference to them.

“When they get the second goal, it’s game on. I was disappointed with our second half, but I have to look at the positives as well and remember we still won the game.

“The players need to learn, and we will only get better. You’ve got to remember we still deservedly won the game.
“We were the team that deserved to win the game so let’s not forget that.”

Cheltenham did end their long wait for an away goal in League One when Ben Williams found Goodwin in the box and he netted from a tight angle.

His second came on 86 minutes when he touched home from close range after Rob Street’s looping header was not dealt with.

Cheltenham boss Darrell Clarke was left to rue lapses in the first half for his side’s fourth straight loss on the road in the league.

“Obviously disappointed with that first-half defending,” said Clarke. “Too many times their long balls caused us problems and we didn’t deal with that at the back.

“Second half, the response was good. We get that goal just before half-time and we get another one and we are chasing it. We are chucking more forward players on and the boys kept to it, so credit to them for that.

“It’s always going to be a difficult game for ourselves, coming to a team like Blackpool who are going to be in the top six. They have a squad of talent, but for effort, commitment and desire, it was all there to see.

“We are just really disappointed with the soft goals we gave away. We have to deal with the back post for the first one. The second one is a lucky deflection, when it ricocheted about three times and the other one he gets his shot away too easily for me.

“We are disappointed with that, even if they got a bit of luck for one of them. We kept going, working hard and caused them one or two problems. We’ll go again. “

Oxford manager Liam Manning admitted to being “deeply frustrated” by his side’s 2-0 Sky Bet League One defeat at Wigan Athletic – believing his players “beat ourselves”.

A goal in either half from Stephen Humphrys and Callum Lang gave the Latics their second win in the space of four days.

But Manning felt the visitors were the architects of their own downfall.

“It’s deeply frustrating, we’ve spoken about it in there,” said the Oxford manager.

“We’ve made loads of progress and build-up in how we control games, which you saw again tonight. There were periods of the game where they allowed us to do that.

“But what you don’t do is give them anything, and unfortunately that’s what we did. If it takes 90 or 95 minutes to keep it at 0-0, and then nick it at the end, or even keep it at 0-0.

“What you don’t do is give away cheap goals, and that was their whole game plan for me – try and frustrate us, try and play on our mistakes.

“Unfortunately we did that.

“I thought there were some terrific moments in the midfield, we managed to play through them, and caused them some real problems.

“Some of the play was excellent, but what you have to do is make sure you get your reward at the end of it.

“Whether that’s care with the final pass, conviction in terms of getting bodies in the box, that was the bit that was lacking.

“I’ve got a huge amount of respect for Wigan, and how Shaun’s set them up, and they’re difficult to break down. But it seems like we beat ourselves.”

For Wigan boss Shaun Maloney, it was another huge step in the right direction – after Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Exeter – following a difficult run of results.

“It was just a really good performance, against a really good team,” he said.

“I thought the performance showed similarities to Exeter, particularly in the first half, when Oxford tried to play through us.

“But I really liked us in the second half as well.

“I’d like to see even more of us with the ball, like the goal we scored in the first half, I want to see more of that.

“Maybe we just needed the platform of being better defensively so we could do what we did in the second half.

“I have to say the mentality of the players was brilliant in the first half, they have to take all the credit.

“The way Oxford played in the first half, finding the spare man, I thought the recovery we showed in shutting down the space was really, really good.

“We built a squad that I said, at the beginning of the season, I wanted to be really attacking.

“We have to find that right balance with the defending, and in the last two matches I feel we have.

“It’s four goals and six points, but we have to be ready to go again, and it’s back to work ahead of the weekend.”

Stevenage boss Steve Evans was adamant that Bristol Rovers’ late equaliser should not have stood, saying there had been a handball in the build-up and that goalscorer Chris Martin had also been offside before firing home a brilliant leveller.

Evans believed his side were the better team in the 1-1 draw at the Memorial Stadium, as the Hertfordshire outfit chalked up a first draw on the road in the league this season.

Martin scored a sublime long-range chip from 35 yards out after 83 minutes to cancel out Jamie Reid’s 40th-minute opener.

Evans said: “They [the Bristol Rovers fans] turn up in great numbers and they back their team. They’re honest people here and they’ll know when they go home tonight and watch it back, they’ll know what happened: they’ll know that it’s an offside by five or seven yards, that it’s a handball and they’ll take a point.

“When my team gets outplayed I know that I’ll take a point.

“They tell me not to say it [criticising the referee]. You don’t shut a boy up who tells the truth.

“People will talk about the chances that Kane Hemmings missed or the two chances that Carl Piergianni normally scores. They’ll talk about aspects of football, but the referees are not good enough, and as long as I see it I’ll say it.

“I watched my players get yellows for kicking the ball away in the first half deservedly, I watched their goalkeeper kick it away when we got a corner…”

Evans received one of a host of yellow cards handed out by referee Matthew Donohue in the game but the veteran manager shrugged it off, saying: “That doesn’t bother me. He’ll tell his grand kids. I’ll tell my grand kids that we should have won the game and I’ll show my wee grandson at two-and-a-half the decision and he will say that’s nonsense.”

Rovers manager Joey Barton also had criticism for referee Donohue, as the Pirates’ three-match winning run at home ended.

“Look, it’s a foul,” said Barton, of the challenge on his goalkeeper Matthew Cox in the run-up to Reid scoring.

“We were unfortunate not to win the game. We were pushing, pushing, pushing…If you can’t win them then don’t lose them.

“We felt aggrieved – we felt we should have had a penalty before Chris’ goal. The ball skips up and hits [Luther James-Wildin] on the arm. I just don’t know the decision-making. Some of these decisions are Keystone Cops.

“In the midst of this Evans is going bananas at the referee, which is normal at the end of the game. If they’d have won the game they’d have been very fortunate because they weren’t better than us.

“First half we were a bit nervy. They’re not an easy team to play against. I have to be pleased with the effort,” added Barton.

Former Lincoln boss Michael Appleton conceded his Charlton side were second best as his return to Sincil Bank ended with his first defeat in eight games in charge of the Addicks, as the Imps won 3-1.

And it was a player who was effectively snubbed by Appleton during his Imps tenure who did most to spoil his night, Hakeeb Adelakun scoring twice with Sean Roughan also on target as City fought back from going behind early to an Alfie May goal to win their second game in succession under interim boss Tom Shaw.

“We were short tonight on everything we’ve been good at,” said Appleton.

“We just didn’t give ourselves a chance, there wasn’t enough duels where we came out on top. Against a physical side like Lincoln, there’s only one scenario that’s going to happen when it’s like that.

“We were not brave enough in the second period of the first half and we were wasting so many goal kicks that were just going to their centre-halves and coming straight back.

“There were a lot of errors in short spells, which created a lot of momentum for Lincoln. It was just one of those nights when we were not aggressive enough, not positive enough.

“There have been lots of lessons learned. Nights like these stop lots of people getting carried away.”

Charlton took a 10th-minute lead when Tyreece Campbell raced on to a through-ball down the left and crossed for the diving May to bundle in from close range.

The Imps were level just after the half-hour mark when Lasse Sorensen fed Jack Burroughs and his cross reached Adelakun, who controlled expertly before swivelling and smashing the ball past Ashley Maynard-Brewer.

Sorensen then delivered a pinpoint cross to Adelakun to stab the ball home from close range and put Lincoln ahead after 57 minutes.

Roughan sealed the win 20 minutes later, the Irish defender firing home after finding himself through on goal.

“We’ve given the players a lot of information in the past week – we have tried to affect their confidence and mindset,” said Shaw, who has now guided the Imps to within two points of the play-off zone. “I thought the players executed the gameplay phenomenally well.

“It was a very pleasing night. The players went to the edge on Saturday and the challenge was can you do it again, physically and mentally? I think we went even more, to be honest. The physical output was outrageous.

“We asked them, ‘can you take the roof off this place?’ And I think some of the stuff, with and without the ball, gave the supporters something to get behind.”

On two-goal hero Adelakun, he added: “He is a great bloke and is full of class. I thought he was sparkling and caused real problems. He was brilliant tonight.”

Barnsley head coach Neill Collins praised his side’s performance as they comfortably defeated Shrewsbury 3-0 at Oakwell.

Herbie Kane and Callum Styles provided first-half goals before Devante Cole added the third with 15 minutes to play.

Collins said: “Of course you want the three points but I think we’re still at the stage where the performance is really important and I thought we got both tonight.

“Credit to the players, we asked them to do both sides of the game because we knew Shrewsbury were a real threat; they beat Derby at the weekend and could have scored more goals.”

Barnsley were handed their first penalty at Oakwell for over two years.

Collins said: “It’s so strange for a team that for the last 70 games has been near the top of the league.

“I thought we got the type of penalty tonight that we’ve been getting against us and Herbie (Kane) stepped up and put it in the net, so it’s good for the fans to see that.”

On his side’s second goal, Collins said: “It’s an excellent goal, I thought Devante’s selflessness to put it on a plate for Callum Styles was great and obviously getting the second goal puts you in a good position at home.”

Shrewsbury head coach Matt Taylor was not happy with the penalty decision.

He said: “They’ve scored from a penalty which, in my opinion and I would say all the people here tonight supporting us would say, wasn’t a penalty.

“I don’t quite understand what you’re meant to do if your arm’s by your side and the ball is smashed at you from five yards away. I’m at a loss as to what you’re meant to do with that.

“After what I felt was a good start, we obviously concede that penalty and then we didn’t get a penalty, which I’m amazed with. And what happens, they score from a counter-attack.

“I think the reason we lost the game is because when we had really good opportunities, especially in the second half, we didn’t take them.

“That is the difference between what I think is the top, the middle and the bottom of this league.

“You see they have one opportunity in the second half from a counter-attack and their centre-forward scores. It’s a difficult one to take especially after the high of Saturday.

“We changed a couple of things at half-time to try and get more control of the game, I felt that worked. If we’d have scored at that point we’d have gone on I think.”

Manager John Mousinho was happy with Portsmouth’s display despite their six-game winning run in League One ending after a goalless draw at Cambridge.

The U’s, now winless in eight league games themselves, produced an impressive display to earn a point.

Mousinho said: “I thought we played really well.

“My overall feeling is that I’m very, very pleased with the performance. Obviously we’d have liked to have won the game but this is a tough place to come and Cambridge aren’t a bad side.

“So long as we go and follow that up with positive performances and hopefully results then it’ll be a good point.

“I think you earn the right to take a point from these places by winning some of those games we’ve won.

“The important thing was to come away and not concede late from one of those set-pieces or one of the breaks when we were really trying to go and win the game. The intent from us was obviously to go and win the game.

“It’s nice I suppose to preserve the unbeaten run because these can be very, very tricky ones.

“I’ve done this many times in my career when you come away to a side that’s decent and has a really good home record and something goes wrong, so I’m really pleased with the boys.”

Cambridge assistant boss Barry Corr was on media duties and was delighted with the response to a poor defeat at Cheltenham on Saturday.

He said: “Everybody put in such a shift. That has to be the minimum.

“Maybe we lacked a tiny little bit of quality in the final moment, maybe that might have been a bit of (from) putting so much into our out-of-possession work, but I think that will come.

“That has to be a baseline for our performances, that has to be what a Cambridge United performance looks like. We can build on that from there.

“Everybody’s seen Digger’s (Paul Digby) like a man possessed, chasing after them, jump-pressing their centre-halves.

“It was so much energy and I think the supporters thrived off it as well and it got an atmosphere going.

“We had quite a good conversation, all the staff and players, and we talked about what our performances need to look like.

“We can’t always control whether we win or lose but we can control the way we commit ourselves to the game.

“You’ve seen that. We’ve defended our box really, really well. Every single player on the pitch put in a really good defensive performance without the ball.

“When you control that type of commitment and aggression, results tend to follow.”

Bolton recorded their first ever away victory over Wycombe as they won 4-2 at Adams Park.

The encounter started off slow before a howler by Max Stryjek in the Wanderers goal gifted Ian Evatt’s high-flying side the lead after 15 minutes.

Paris Maghoma got a first goal on his third start for the club since joining on loan from Brentford after he let fly a tame shot from 20 yards, which Stryjek inexplicably spilled over the line.

The visitors then doubled their lead through a brilliant George Thomason lob nine minutes before the break for his first strike of the season.

However, Wycombe pulled a goal back moments into the second half through a wonder strike from Luke Leahy, before David Wheeler equalised for the home side with less than 10 minutes remaining.

It looked like Wycombe were going to go for the win, before an Eoin Toal header in the 85th minute and an Aaron Morley penalty four minutes later snatched victory for the Trotters in the dying embers.

The result means Wycombe drop to 10th whilst Bolton remain in fourth.

Joe Garner ended Burton’s eight-game unbeaten run with an 88th-minute goal as Carlisle secured a deserved 2-1 League One victory at Brunton Park.

Dino Maamria’s in-form visitors looked on course for a fifth straight win when Mark Helm shot them in front against the run of play after 28 minutes.

But the Cumbrians, winning for only the second time in 11 games in all competitions, produced one of their best performances of the season to fight back.

Tom Hamer’s goal-line clearance denied Garner a first-half leveller but Paul Simpson’s rejuvenated side kept up the pressure after the break.

And they were full value for Jordan Gibson’s fifth goal of the season after 53 minutes. Gibson drilled in a low shot after receiving the ball from Dan Butterworth.

Gibson was denied a second goal by keeper Max Crocombe while Josh Walker went close for Albion with a shot into the side netting.

But Carlisle kept pressing and when substitute Terry Ablade headed goalwards, Garner nipped in to score the winner.

Josh Vela struck a stoppage-time winner as Reading’s dismal run without a League One victory stretched to six matches after they were beaten 2-1 by fellow strugglers Fleetwood.

The visitors, dominant throughout much of the first half, went ahead after only 65 seconds thanks to Bosun Lawal’s first senior goal.

Reading levelled in the 56th minute through Dom Ballard but Town snatched victory through skipper Vela in the second minute of added time.

In a first meeting between the two clubs, Fleetwood began the stronger and took the lead just past the one-minute mark.

Right-back Lawal, on loan from Celtic, sent in a low 20-yard drive that surprised home goalkeeper David Button and crept in.

Town continued to dictate proceedings, with Promise Omochere nodding against the outside of an upright and Button having to save twice to deny Jack Marriott.

Reading offered little in the opening period and were jeered off by their fans at half-time.

But they improved after the interval and Ballard made no mistake when he bundled in a deflected Sam Smith centre.

Charlie Savage almost won it for the hosts towards the end but his powerful effort cannoned off a post, allowing Vela to strike late on after the Reading defence failed to clear the danger.

Barnsley closed the gap on second-placed Oxford in League One following a 3-0 victory over Shrewsbury at Oakwell.

Herbie Kane opened the scoring from the spot in the 20th minute after the Reds were awarded their first home penalty since March 2021, with Callum Styles adding a second just minutes later.

League One top-scorer Devante Cole netted a third with 15 minutes to play to leave the Tykes two points behind Oxford.

Barnsley were awarded a penalty after Barry Cotter’s strike from the edge of the box was blocked by the arm of the onrushing Carl Winchester.

Kane stepped up, firing to the right of Marko Marosi to give his side a 1-0 lead.

The Tykes swiftly doubled their advantage five minutes later. Cole countered down the right and crossed to Styles who slotted home from inside the box.

The Shrews nearly pulled one back on the hour mark. Cheyenne Dunkley headed goalwards but Nicky Cadden was there to clear off the line.

Cole made it three in the 75th minute. Playing a neat one-two with Max Watters, he found himself with just the keeper to beat and slotted past Marosi.

Oxford remain second in Sky Bet League One despite going down to a 2-0 defeat at struggling Wigan.

A goal in either half from Stephen Humphrys and Callum Lang gave Wigan their second win in four days.

The visitors started well only for Wigan goalkeeper Sam Tickle to deny Marcus McGuane and Stan Mills from distance

And Wigan took full advantage on 18 minutes when Thelo Aasgaard fed Humphrys, who held off the last defender before slotting home.

After Tyler Goodrham had been denied by a super block by Wigan winger Jordan Jones, Tickle saved again from Mills and Ruben Rodriguez either side of half-time

Martial Godo had two good chances to double Wigan’s lead, only for James Beadle to make a great save and Ciaron Brown block a later goal-bound effort.

But the match-winning second goal did arrive eight minutes from time when Lang – fresh off the bench – curled a superb free-kick over the wall.

And only two fine fingertip stops from Beadle stood between substitute Josh Stones and a third Wigan goal in stoppage-time.

Ephron Mason-Clark netted the winner as Peterborough extended their unbeaten run in League One to eight matches with a 1-0 victory at Port Vale.

The only goal of the game came in the 14th minute, when Connor Ripley failed to keep out Mason-Clark’s back-post header from Kwame Poku’s cross.

There were big shouts for a Vale penalty on the half-hour mark, but Ben Garrity was booked for diving having latched onto a short back-pass and gone down under a challenge from goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic.

Funso Ojo’s long-range attempt in the 41st minute was well tipped around the post by Bilokapic.

Down at the other end, Ripley produced a superb double save in added time – firstly denying Joel Randall and then Ricky-Jade Jones – to keep the deficit to one going into the break.

Ripley had to be alert again to deny Poku when one-on-one just before the hour mark.

The hosts threatened to equalise in the 67th minute as substitute James Plant’s goal-bound effort was blocked superbly by Ronnie Edwards on the line, but that was as close as they came.

Shaq Forde scored a 96th-minute equaliser as Leyton Orient rescued a 2-2 draw in an incident-packed game at Northampton.

Orient led early through Rob Hunt but Sam Hoskins scored twice in three minutes to turn things around, only for Kieron Bowie to see red before Forde’s dramatic leveller.

The home side started well but Orient weathered the storm before breaking the deadlock with their first shot on 14 minutes when a patient move ended with Hunt collecting Ruel Sotiriou’s pass and firing in his first goal for the club.

Lee Burge reacted well to prevent Idris El Mizouni from doubling the lead but everything turned around in the space of three minutes at the start of the second half.

Hoskins first equalised, latching onto Shaun McWilliams’ pass and beating Sol Brynn via a deflection, before he converted from the spot after Akin Odimayo was taken down in the box.

Bowie then saw red for an apparent headbutt and Orient should have been level within minutes but Sotiriou somehow headed wide from underneath the crossbar.

Burge tipped over Sotiriou’s rasping volley but Orient’s pressure finally told deep into stoppage time as Forde converted Jordan Graham’s cross.

Cambridge produced a resolute display to hold League One leaders Portsmouth to a goalless draw.

The U’s started brightly, with Sullay Kaikai’s cross needing to be tipped over by Will Norris before a Kaikai cross was scuffed wide by Danny Andrew.

The biggest chance of the first half came on 31 minutes when Abu Kamara’s overhit cross for the visitors smacked back off the far post, with Colby Bishop’s rebound kept out by a superb Ryan Bennett block.

Pompey were denied again before the break when Conor Shaughnessy’s effort was deflected off target following a scramble from a corner.

Portsmouth continued to press in the second half, with Zak Swanson firing straight at Jack Stevens before Paddy Lane shooting over from outside the box just after the hour.

The U’s almost snatched an opener themselves 18 minutes from the end after great work by substitute Saikou Janneh but Jack Lankester’s close-range shot was too close to Norris.

The leaders nearly grabbed a winner deep into added time only for Stevens to deny Bishop.