Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson offers his honest verdict on Sunderland, Phil Parkinson and the promotion race

Posh will visit Wearside on Saturday, September 26 (3pm kick-off) in fine spirits after coming from behind to claim their first League One win triumph of the season against Fleetwood Town last weekend.

And having already seen off one potential promotion rival, Ferguson is targeting another scalp at the Stadium of Light.

But he is under no illusions as to the size of challenge facing his Peterborough side, and has praised Parkinson and assistant Steve Parkin ahead of the game.

"Sunderland have started well, got a good win last week and they have an abundance of possibilities up front,” he said, speaking to the Peterborough Telegraph.

“We won’t be fearing them, we will respect them and we will go there hoping to win the game.

"They have a very experienced group of players and they have an experienced management team in Phil and Steve.

“They do a good job. The expectations at Sunderland never change, especially in this league.

“They have been at this level for three years and they want to get out of League One.

“It is not easy to get out of this league, and it will be a tough game for both teams I think.”

Both teams are tipped by the bookmakers to be battling for the top two spots in the third tier come May, with Sunderland narrow favourites ahead of Posh.

Ferguson, though, says it is far too early to draw any conclusions when it comes to the promotion race.

“In the early part of the season I don’t tend to look at the league table and won’t do for a long while yet.

“At the start of the season you can get some inconsistencies, perhaps in selection or in what you are looking for.

“We improved last Saturday from the Accrington game on the opening day, and I feel like the character and desire we showed against one of our possible rivals at the weekend was very important. That first win will kick us on.

“This Saturday will be another tough game as we know, but they all can be like that, it is a competitive league.”

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