Peterborough United look to make it back to back victories in Sky Bet League One on Saturday as Shrewsbury Town visit the ABAX Stadium.
Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough United welcome Shrewsbury Town to the ABAX Stadium on Saturday (3pm) as they look to build on last weekend’s hard fought 1-0 victory at the Kassam Stadium against Oxford United.
Those three points moved Posh to within a point of Doncaster Rovers in the table although Grant McCann’s side do have a couple of games in hand. Shrewsbury who could well feature former Posh midfield man Anthony Grant in their starting line-up, have had a difficult run of form sandwiched in between a decent cup run and arrive in the drop zone.
TEAM NEWS
Posh welcome back defender Tyler Denton from suspension after he sat out that win against Oxford following his red card at the Keepmoat Stadium. Daniel Lafferty is rated as 50-50 with a hamstring issue while on-loan defender Josh Knight could face more than four weeks on the sidelines after a scan revealed ankle ligament damage. He has returned to his parent club Leicester City for treatment.
Siriki Dembele remains sidelined with a medial knee ligament injury and Callum Cooke has recovered from illness which kept him out of training and the match against the U’s. Josh Laurent has been given the all-clear to make his return from injury for Shrewsbury while Greg Docherty has also returned to training.
The midfield duo's return comes as a big boost to boss Sam Ricketts who is out to record a first league win in 10 games. Docherty has been sidelined for a fortnight with a nasty eye injury which required a week's bed-rest, but the Scot has returned to training at Sundorne and will be assessed with a view to being involved.
Laurent missed last Saturday's home 1-1 draw against Burton with an ankle injury but has shaken off that knock. The pair were badly missed as Shrews suffered a midfield injury-crisis last time out with Dave Edwards (suspended) and Romain Vincelot (knee) also missing.
FROM THE GAFFER
“Shrewsbury will be fighting for their lives, just like Oxford were and there is no easy game in this league. We have worked on a few things this week and it is down to us now to find some momentum and build on last week’s win at Oxford. It is about getting the results, that is the most important thing at the moment and then the performances will naturally follow,” Darren Ferguson said.
FROM THE OPPOSITION
“You’re looking around the same sort of (50 point) markers really but you just don’t know because it depends on what other teams get. There are so many teams around us. Does that mean it’s going to be higher or does that mean it’s going to be lower? Ultimately it depends on what the bottom 10 teams do – that will result in what is needed this year,” Shrews boss Sam Ricketts said when asked about the potential points total needed for his side.
TICKET NEWS
Tickets are available at www.theposhtickets.com, via the Ticketmaster hotline 0844 847 1934 (calls cost 7ppm plus your network access fee) and in person at the ABAX Stadium Box Office. Shrewsbury are set to be backed by just over 250 supporters. The Motorpoint Stand will have plenty of youngsters through the club’s Schools Initiative. We hope they have a great day with us.
FAN ZONE
The weather forecast looks promising so the fans zone will be in operation from 1pm with the Mobile Bar, inflatables and much more available.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
The match referee is Kevin Johnson.