Defender James Chester has returned to Manchester United after his one-month loan spell at London Road came to an end following Saturday's Coca-Cola League One defeat to Southend United.

The youngster featured in five matches for Posh during his stint at Peterborough United and performed admirably, considering he never had a consistent centre back partner throughout the period he was at the club.

'The expectations on me were quite high because I am at Manchester United, but I had only played reserve team football prior to my arrival at Posh and during the month I was at London Road there were a lot of injuries at the back. It was difficult because it is always good to have a consistent partner at the back.

'It has been a real learning curve for me, but one that I really needed as a player. I wanted first team experience and that is what I have got under my belt and it will certainly stand me in good stead for the future. Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has said that he wants me back at Old Trafford because there are a few injuries up there, so the plan is to return to Manchester United and see what happens there.

'I think the game against Southend was the experience I was looking for because obviously coming from United you don't tend to have too many balls over the top to deal with, certainly not from deep, but they pumped a lot of long balls over our shoulders and we had to deal with it.

'It was disappointing to finish on a low with a defeat, particularly after creating so many chances in the first half. We should have been out of sight before we conceded an equaliser and to be fair to the lad he probably won't score a goal like that again. The second Southend goal is just one of those things that happens in football and we didn't really get going after that,' Chester told theposh.com.