Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson desperate to banish last season's demons as Posh take on Oxford in League One play-offs semi-final for a place at Wembley

Peterborough will look to lay to rest the ghosts of last season when they visit Oxford for the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final on Saturday. 

Twelve months ago Posh were on the wrong end of the greatest comeback in play-off history, as Sheffield Wednesday overturned a 4-0 first-leg deficit and advanced on penalties on a stunning night at Hillsborough. 

No side had ever overturned a deficit of more than two goals in the second leg of the play-offs. But manager Darren Ferguson insists they are ready to go again as he looks to win promotion for a fourth time with the club, a month after tasting glory at Wembley by winning the EFL Trophy. 

‘We’re looking forward to it, we’re ready,’ he said. 

‘Semi-finals of play-offs can be tense but we’ve got to make sure we perform. ‘Games like this can be a bit frantic in the early period, then it calms down. I think it’ll be two tight games.’

Posh finished fourth, seven points ahead of Oxford, but suffered a 5-0 defeat at the Kassam Stadium when the sides met last month.

‘That’s a game we’ve been looking back at in terms of what we need to do better,’ said Ferguson. ‘There are certain things we need to improve on from that but this is an entirely different game.

‘If we get the correct level of performance, we know we’re a hard team to play.’

The second leg is on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, former Newcastle midfielder Nolberto Solano has been appointed manager at seventh-tier Blyth Spartans.

The 49-year-old also played for Aston Villa, Hull, West Ham and Leicester — where he was a team-mate of Spartans’ sporting director Steve Howard. Blyth were relegated from the National League North last week. Solano said: ‘It’s a wonderful challenge. I’m very excited.’