A second half strike from Harry Leonard was not enough as Posh suffered a 2-1 defeat to Doncaster Rovers at the Eco-Power Stadium.
Peterborough United suffered a second successive defeat as Grant McCann's Doncaster Rovers claimed all three points following a 2-1 victory with Posh giving themselves a mountain to climb by falling 2-0 down before the interval.
It was Jordan Gibson who did the damage, scoring twice from almost identical positions and despite a second half deflected effort from Harry Leonard, it was not enough to help secure any points on the road.
On a wet afternoon, it was the hosts who started the brighter with GIBSON opening the scoring on seven minutes, taking advantage of space at the back post to fire past Alex Bass.
Archie Collins was denied an eighth goal for the club by a sprawling save from Lo-Tutala on 18 minutes and Kyrell Lisbie had the ball in the net four minutes later after a flowing move, but the offside flag curtailed his celebrations.
Two minutes later, the hosts were 2-0 up as GIBSON slotted the ball through the legs of Bass from close-range after a right-wing centre.
There was a flurry of bookings before the break, mainly for the hosts as the half ended scrappily. Posh made two changes at the break and got an immediate impact with Declan Frith denied by the legs of the keeper.
On 50 minutes, Posh pulled one back as fellow substitute Harry LEONARD'S shot on the turn appeared to take a deflection and found the back of the net. On 56 minutes, Bass produced a superb save at full stretch to keep out a low effort from Hanlan, which was arrowing into the bottom corner.
Leonard headed a Matt Garbett cross over the bar and then Lo-Tutala kept out an effort from Garbett from the edge of the box. On 66 minutes, it was nearly 3-1 as Billy Sharp raced clear but he fired wide of the target with only Bass to beat.
Garbett was inches away from the leveller on 68 minutes after a fine curling effort from 25-yards and also saw a goalbound effort blocked as Posh pushed, but unfortunately there was no late equaliser.
Doncaster: Lo-Tutala, Sterry, Maxwell, Bailey, McGrath, Molyneux (sub Middleton 83min), Broadbent, Hanlan (sub Sharp 59min), Gibson (sub Grehan 71min), O’Riordan, Clifton (sub Gotts 59min). Unused subs: Lawlor, Nixon, Crew, Gotts.
Posh: Bass, Collins, Khela (sub Frith 46min), Lees, Woods, Lisbie (sub Lindgren 70min), Mills, Morgan (sub Leonard 46min), Garbett, O’Connor, Kioso. Unused subs: Reyes, Johnston, O’Brien-Brady, Okagbue.
Half-time: Doncaster Rovers 2-0 Peterborough United
Full-time: Doncaster Rovers 2-1 Peterborough United
Attendance: 9,654
Referee: Ollie Yates