FA Cup: Tyler Young could face dad Ashley in Peterborough’s Everton game, hints Darren Ferguson

Peterborough have only played Everton once before, a 2-1 home defeat in the second round of the League Cup in 2006, when Trevor Benjamin equalised before Tim Cahill scored a late winner for the Toffees.

Having reached round five in 2021-22, Ferguson’s free-scoring side will be looking to continue their progress in this year’s competition when they visit Goodison Park over the weekend of 11-12 January.

The Scot, though, insisted that the nine League One games they have to play before then were far more important.

“It’s about time we got a decent one. It was getting down to the last few teams and I was thinking ‘oh, we’re going to get a terrible draw here’ and then Everton came up and we’ll take that one,” Ferguson said.

“We can all look forward to it – fans, club, players – and this is why I put a real emphasis to the team when we were preparing for the first round and then the second round.

“I’ll try and make sure they’re very motivated for that third round, but the bigger picture is we’ve got nine far more important games before then.”

Ferguson added: “I’m sure everyone is talking about it in the dressing room, but that’s the least important game we’ve got.

“It’s a game we’ll look forward to, we’re not just going there for a day out, we’re going up there to try and get through – but if I have to put a level of importance [on it], it’s nowhere near the next nine games.”

Peterborough are 13th in the third tier, having reached the play-offs in the last two seasons – but only leaders Wycombe have scored more than their 32 goals.

Their next game is at home to bottom club Burton Albion on Wednesday.