Barry Fry admits that the main stumbling block to maintaining Peterborough United’s progress will not be keeping their players but their manager. They may be able to reject higher clubs’ bids for the likes of Aaron McLean and Craig Mackail-Smith but, at their present rate of advancement, keeping Darren Ferguson at London Road will prove more of an issue.

Saturday’s draw at The Hawthorns epitomised Peterborough’s burgeoning form as they chase a second successive promotion but Ferguson is eager not to fly too high too soon. As his team hinted at their Cola-Cola Championship credentials with this deserved result, the son of the Manchester United manager admitted that, with everything going so swimmingly, he could do with a bad spell for the sake of experience — “Preferably next season rather than this,” he said. “I look at other managers who have moved on and the best analogy might be Incey [Paul Ince], who experienced nothing but good stuff [with Macclesfield Town and Milton Keynes Dons] and then went to Blackburn and entered a bad run,” Ferguson, 36, said. “I think it’s better if you’ve experienced something like that before [progressing].”

Fry jested that Real Madrid will soon be asking about Ferguson. “We have improved no end since he walked into the building,” Peterborough’s director of football said. “He is a great manager, destined for the top. In fact, whenever a job becomes vacant his name is mentioned. There’s only been one when it hasn’t and that was Real Madrid — but it will be next year.”

Peterborough deserved a replay after West Bromwich Albion, after back-to-back wins in the Barclays Premier League, played loosely. Mackail-Smith had a shot tipped on to the crossbar by Scott Carson in the first half and, although Jonas Olsson headed the home side into the lead, George Boyd’s trickery frequently troubled the home team and, three minutes from time, Mackail-Smith poached a deserved equaliser when he tucked into McLean’s appetising cross-shot.

West Bromwich Albion (4-4-2): S Carson 7 — C Hoefkens 5, L Barnett 4, J Olsson 6, M Cech 5 — R Koren 5 (sub: J Simpson, 46min 6), J Greening 6, B Valero 5, C Brunt 6 — R Bednar 5 (sub: C Beattie, 77), L Moore 5 (sub: G Dorrans, 70 5). Substitutes not used: D Kiely, P Robinson, Kim Do Heon, R Donk.

Peterborough United (4-4-2): J Lewis 5 — R Martin 5, C Morgan 6, G Zakuani 6, C Lee 6 — C Whelpdale 6 (sub: S Batt, 75), P Coutts 6, D Keates 6, G Boyd 8 — A McLean 7 (sub: S Torres, 90), C Mackail-Smith 8. Substitutes not used: J McKeown, C Westwood, D Blanchett, D Green, D Andrew.

Referee: K Friend Attendance: 18,659

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