Posh happy to be on 'right side of line' - Williams

Peterborough United boss Luke Williams hopes climbing out of the relegation places will give his team a psychological lift as they approach the halfway point of the season.

Posh have spent much of the League One campaign in the bottom four, leading to the departure of four-time manager Darren Ferguson and the arrival of Williams as his replacement in October.

But Saturday's 2-1 Nene derby win over Northampton Town bumped them up to 19th on goal difference, with only five points covering the teams from 12th to 23rd.

"Psychologically that's great for us. We'd rather be that side of the line than the other. Now we have to continue," Williams told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

Both Peterborough goals were scored early in the second half by Harry Leonard, who now has four in his last three league appearances.

"He's got such high attacking instincts, he's so smart and ruthless. I don't think any of us are shocked because we can all see the quality he has," said Williams.

"And if you combine the quality with the relentless work rate and ambition of the boy, and his character, you have a really good combination."

The Posh boss, however, was unimpressed by his side's collective performance in the final part of the game against opponents, who only had 10 men on the pitch following the first-half dismissal of Jack Perkins.

"It was disappointing, the last half an hour - after we conceded, the mentality of the team was wrong," he added.

"Football is an emotional game but the guys on the pitch need to be more in control because [if they don't] then we start to see one nervy action followed by another, followed by another, throughout the last half hour of the game.

"This was a mentality that went right through the whole team that was playing the game on fear, that's a terrible emotion to try and play football."

Despite that, Williams added: "Bragging rights aren't down to performance, just the result. We won the derby, that's it, over.

"It's my job to worry about the performance of the team because I have to provide more results for the fans in the future, derbies and non-derbies."

Peterborough are away to Port Vale on Saturday before ending 2025 with back-to-back home games against Leyton Orient and Reading.